Teen Titans: A Very Merry Holiday Special
by NeoNazo356
Summary: The end of the world on 12-21-12 was a bust, and as such, the holiday season is back on. Watch as the Teen Titans work their way towards the first Christmas they celebrate together as a team, and all the familiar faces that come with it. Holiday shenanigans, gouts of fire, eggnog, and mistletoe mishaps are abound this year in this very merry holiday special. TT:1o4E off-shot.
1. Holiday Hooplah

It was the holiday season in Jump City, New Jersey. Temperatures were dropping, people were pouring in from all over to see their families, tinsel lined the town, wreaths up on half of the lamp posts, and snow was forecast every day for the next week and on through New Years. Strangely enough the crime rate was the lowest it had ever been for that quarter, and as such, the city's resident guardians, the Teen Titans, were able to prepare for the upcoming holiday season with little distraction. At the moment most of the team was in the living room; Robin was reading the morning paper, Cyborg was hauling boxes into the living room from storage, Beast Boy was surfing the TV Guide for Christmas specials he wanted to record, and Starfire was floating above a trio of cookbooks making terran end-of-year holiday foods.

"Hey guys, I haven't seen Vent all day. Is he still in bed?" Beast Boy asked noticing the lack of brown hair in the group. They had all different heads of hair in the tower; black, red, blue, green, reinforced titanium alloy with a chrome polish, but no _brown _at the moment.

"Friends, Raven is gone as well," Starfire said looking around from her festive holiday cooking. Given the eggnog wasn't breathing, it seemed a Christmas Miracle was occurring a week early.

"If those two are off making out somewhere, just saying it right now... I totally called it," Beast Boy chuckled jovially. Ever since Vent and Raven went on that vacation together after the falling-out they almost had, he'd always crack jokes about how they were practicing for when they _elope _with one another. Not when Raven was around of course, because if she so much as _heard_ him make those kind of jokes, she'd probably send him straight to Hell with her magic mirror. Either that or feed him to the evil chocobos that resided in her mind.

"Friends! I have found a note, here on the fridge!" Starfire called out pulling off a yellow sticky-note from their stainless steel fridge. "In friend Raven's handwriting it says that she went out with Ventus-"

"Called it!" Beast Boy chortled, raising his hand for a high-five. "Up top! Right here!"

"-to get his wisdom taken out," Starfire finished, making Beast Boy feel pretty darn stupid. "I thought it was the _brain _that made people smart. Not their teeth," she said confusedly, a large **? **above her head.

"Wisdom teeth are the extra molars in the back of a person's jaw that need to be taken out sometimes because there isn't enough room back there," Cyborg stated as he flipped through the channels. "I should know. I got mine taken out when I turned 18."

"How old _are _you exactly?" Robin questioned.

"Moving on," Cyborg said completely brushing aside that topic, not wanting to feel like the old fogey in the group. "The anesthesia puts him in no position to move about on his own. Can't imagine trying to fly while you're doped out on narcotics, so it makes sense that Raven's there with him."

"I don't get it. Raven's our team's White Mage, right? Couldn't she just, I don't know, heal his mouth after _removing_ his molars?" Beast Boy asked.

"I don't think she has a dental license," Cyborg deadpanned.

"I suppose we should just be glad they don't put tofu in pain medications," Robin said as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "A bipolar teammate is bad enough. One with a lunatic for a teacher and the ability to bend the air around us is something I do _not _want to have to put up with."

"You said it," Cyborg commented. After testing out the strength of the brunette's reproduced Kaze no Yaiba, he was the first to find out that it could cut through reinforced titanium, given a sharp enough blade.

* * *

An hour later in the Tower, Beast Boy was _still_ leafing through the TV Guide and setting Christmas specials to record, when suddenly a black silhouette made its way towards their panoramic view window. A few seconds later a large shadow raven phased through the blast-proof glass before settling down in the living room, its wings spreading open as two figures stepped out.

"Hey. We're back," Raven said as she helped Ventus along, his arm strung over her shoulder and his head hung as she dragged him along by his belt. Despite her petite form, she was actually stronger than she looked.

"So. What're we talking in terms of meds?" Cy asked, remembering how rough it was when _he _needed to dope himself up from the extraction of his extra molars.

"Let's see..." Raven said laying Vincent down atop the table while drawing a bag of pill bottles from her cloak. "We've got Ibuprofen for the pain, Hydrocodone for the _worse _pain, and Promethazine for the nausea that the Hydrocodone will bring about."

"Huh. That doesn't seem so bad," Robin noted.

"Yeah... Turns out Slade made Vent somewhat immune to tranquilizers through tolerance training, so the surgeons had to increase the dosage of anesthesia for when they put him under," the bluenette deadpanned.

"How much we talking?" Cyborg asked.

"Death to the Templars! Death to sunspots!" the brunette suddenly blurted out as he threw his arms up into the air, before slumping back down onto the table with a low _***whump***_.

"That much... I should probably put him to bed," Raven said with a deadpanned expression as she threw his arm over her shoulder and began dragging him to the rooms by his waistband.

" . . . She knows she can use telekinesis to carry him, right?" Beast Boy questioned as the door _***whoosh***_ed shut behind them.

"I think it's the counting that thinks?" Starfire questioned.

"The thought that counts," Robin corrected, not looking up from his paper in the slightest.

* * *

"Hey Rae... Thanks for... taking care of me today," Vent slurred as the mage helped him to his room.

"No problem. I'm sure you'd do the same for me," Raven returned. "So Vent... This will be my first Christmas, given... you know... Think you could give me a heads-up on what to expect?" she asked, only for the brunette to grow deathly silent.

"Well... My parents didn't have a lot of money to spend frivolously, so my Christmas memories aren't all tinsel and miracle," Vent answered. "In a way this'll be my first _real _Christmas... and since it's yours too... I'll just have to make sure it's the best first Christmas you've ever had," he spoke with amazing clarity for someone doped up on tranquilizers.

"You... You really mean that?" Raven asked. Sure, she was used to the kindness he'd extend to her, but with how little she could reciprocate, or at least not without letting her other persona gain control of her body and have a repeat of the After-Prom Incident, she had thought he would've eventually given up on her; or simply find it easier to let her do her own thing.

"One hundred percent," he answered giving her a toothy grin. Four teeth less, but you'd never see those from a smile anyhow. "Now... I'm starting to feel a bit drowsy, so I'll just crawl into bed... make holiday plans with the others in the morning," he said extricating himself from Raven's grip and walking through his door... Only to fall face-first onto the floor. Shaking her head at her antics, Raven levitated him into his bed before drawing the covers over him.

* * *

The next morning Vent rolled out of bed at dawn, _literally_, and landed on the floor jaw-fist. Biting back the cry of pain threatening to leave his lips while two phantom images screamed in his stead, he dragged himself over to the desk in the center of his room, grabbed the first bottle of pills he could reach, and walked over to his mini-fridge before downing one with a few chugs of milk.

"Damn this bites... Shit, and I thought _BB _made the bad puns," he groaned as he pulled some pants on, falling flat on his back _***whum***_ after losing his balance. "Damn Irish."

* * *

"Look at it this way. You put those four molars they took out under your pillow, and you can get at least five bucks out of the Tooth Fairy," Beast Boy joked that morning as the team all ate breakfast at the table. Vegan for him of course.

"They didn't give me back my teeth after they took them out. They went into biohazard waste," the brunette grumbled as he drank a nice cup of hot tea, courtesy of Raven.

"Harsh."

"Not that much. I was out for an hour while they went to work on my molars," the brunette answered.

"Alright guys, the mayor sent us a to-do list of things we can do to help bolster tourism and keep us above the quota of what we're required to save the citizens out of tax payer dollar," Robin said coming up with a clipboard. "First and foremost is the opening of the new shopping mall after its re-opening, and most of the other stuff we'll be doing today will take place there. Basically stuff like cutting ribbons, making public appearances, signing autographs, etc."

"Just another day at the office then?" Vent asked as he got up from his seat. "Alright. Let's get going then."

"Oh no you don't," Raven said pushing him back down onto the couch. "Doctor's orders: You're not to do _anything _strenuous for the next five days. Seven at the worst," she punctuated as she wagged her finger at him. "And before you say "this won't be strenuous", remember how often we get attacked whenever we're out in public. You're not to leave this Tower under any circumstance, is that clear?"

" . . ." Vent looked like he was about to argue, but then nodded his head. "Okay, Raven. I'll just housesit I suppose."

"Good," Raven said with a nod. "Robin. Tell the mayor Vent won't be able to participate due to medical leave. And before _you _say "everyone _has _to be there", remember that he's still recovering from surgery, and five out of six Teen Titans will be enough for this to go over."

"Alright, alright, I'll make the call," Robin grumbled as he headed for the phone. Seriously, ever since he chased Vent out of the Tower either him or Raven had been chewing him out whenever possible.

"Here, friend Ventus. While we go out to entertain the people, why not taste my first batch of Christ-Mass cookies?" she questioned as she held out a platter of cookies in festive holiday shapes from the kitchen. Practice makes perfect, after all.

"_It's Christmas_,_" _Robin, Cyborg, and Beast Boy punctuated

"And they look de_lic_ious," the brunette replied with a smile.

"_I'll prime the stomach pump,"_ Cyborg muttered over his shoulder.

* * *

"Mmmm. Say what you will about Star's cooking, but every once in a while... she'll nail it," the brunette sighed as he happily pat his stomach, a few cookie crumbs on the plate in front of him. "I'm pretty sure the team's at the re-opening already, so I think now'd be a good time to see the news coverage," he said sorting through the nine removes the team had before finally finding the one that made the TV work. "Ah! Just in time... I see the mayor making his speech... now Robin's bowing as he accepts the giant scissors," he commentated as he followed the events on-screen, his personal line ringing moments later. Looking down, he saw a mewling cat decal on the Caller ID before knowing who it was. "Kathryn, afternoon. Is something the matter? Do you have a creepy stalker?"

"Vent, I was watching the news to see the Teen Titans commemorate the opening of the new mall, and you weren't there! I was worried. Are you alright? You aren't hurt are you?"

"I'm fine, just house sitting," the brunette answered as he kicked up his feet onto the table. "Needed to get my wisdom teeth taken out, and I'm not supposed to be doing anything too strenuous, so the others made me stay home in case a supervillain attacked."

"Ouch. Well, at least you're okay. I was really worried about you, though."

"Thanks for that. I appreciate the thought," the brunette returned. "Hey, Kathryn, you doing anything special for the holidays?"

"N-No, my daddy is still in prison so I'm on my own this season. Why do you ask?" she asked as she twirled her hair on the other end of the line.

"Well, I just thought maybe you'd like to stay here for the holidays and celebrate with us. You aren't Jewish are you?"

"No."

"And like that, the Titan's Christmas Bash is back on," the brunette replied. "If you want I can at least get a guest room ready. Of course I'll have to run this by the others, but I'm sure I can get them to agree. No one deserves to spend the holidays without any friends or family. Trust me I have been there and done that one time too many. Sorta."

"Alright!" she whooped. "I mean, I'll see if I can't pull some gifts together. Call you later, bye!"

"See ya," the brunette said as he hung up the line. "It's been _months _since that junior prom thing. I'm sure when I run this by him that Robin will saaay-"

* * *

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!"

'_Ohhh _fuck _this isn't going according to plan at _all_!'_ Vent thought to himself.

"Not only did she blackmail us into taking her to that _stupid _dance at the risk of having the city get _eaten_, but in case you don't remember, her father's also a wanted criminal!"

"Who hasn't given the maximum security prison _any _problems since his incarceration!" Vent argued back. "Come on, man, I thought you'd be more grown up about this. I mean, you're older than _I _am," he said as he crossed his arms. "That kinda means you _have_ to be more mature, not less."

"First, don't you take that tone with me! Second, I'm looking out for the team's best interests, and I say Kitten is _not _coming into this Tower!" Robin argued, Vent looking at him blankly for a few moments before he started walking away. "And just where do you think _you're _going!? We're not done here!" the spiky-haired teen demanded as Vent walked over to the kitchen and began digging through the fridge.

"Robin, you're the authority on the team, and I respect that. However, it's also my patriotic duty to _challenge _that authority when you overstep your bounds," he said as he turned away from the fridge, having found what he was looking for. "Robin, don't make me do this. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry," Vent growled as he pulled out what looked like a chocolate-colored square on a stick.

"Dude, is that one of my home-made chocolate-covered tofu-pops?" Beast Boy asked from the background.

"Kitten is _not _staying in this Tower and that FINAL-wait what?" Robin shouted before whirling around.

_***crunch-nom-nom-nom***_

"Oh boy," Cyborg paled as Vent's throat bobbed, the sound of a leather glove being dragged down a bass guitar's strings soon ringing out through the Tower as a monstrous silhouette loomed over Robin. The next moment a gout of flame shot at Robin, Beast Boy screamed like a little girl-

* * *

"And _that's _the story of how I convinced Robin to let you stay with us for the holidays. The end," Vent finished narrating.

"Wow, that's just... wow..." Kitten said in awe. Both in the content of the story, and that he'd go so far for her when the others opinions of hers were less than satisfactory.

"But don't worry about present company. There are going to be a _bunch _of teen heroes pouring in to stay with us for the Holidays, so there will be plenty of fresh faces to talk to, some more understanding than others," the brunette continued as he waved his arm out at the row of holiday stockings nailed to the south wall. "Remember those tournaments we were forced to compete in? We did a bit of networking, and we decided to celebrate the holidays en masse this year. Maybe make it a holiday tradition if things pan out and we don't wind up killing one another."

"How many people can stay in this tower exactly?" Kitten asked as she counted the long row of stockings.

"With current space and resources, Titans Tower can house a total of five dozen occupants before elbow room begins to become sparse," Star answered.

"Accommodations aren't anything to write home about, but it isn't like you'll be spending too long in the room anyway," Vent said handing Kitten a slip of paper. "Here's your room number. The doors are automatic so you shouldn't have a problem getting in. If the door is stubborn, just call me up and we'll get you all set up."

"Right. Well, let me just get my bags then," Kitten said as she reached for her pink floral-patterned suitcase and backpack, containing enough clothing _–festive or not-_ to last her for the holidays and her toiletries. Staying with the Teen Titans had been kinda sprung up on her out of the blue, so she had yet to get them any gifts. Still, she had some ideas as to what she could get them that they might like, so hopefully a goodwill gesture would ease things over with them after what happened.

"Here, allow me to help you with that suitcase," Starfire said taking the suitcase's handle in one hand, grabbing Kitten's wrist with the other and dragging both out of the living room.

"Well... I think that went rather well, wouldn't you agree?" Vent replied jovially.

"For _you _maybe," Cyborg grumbled.

"Yeah, dude. I could've gone my whole _life _without watching you go all Godzilla on us," Beast Boy shuddered in fright. And he could turn into a _T-Rex_!

"Oh pish posh, it wasn't like I was breathing _fire_ or anything," Vent replied.

"You were swinging a vintage, Vietnam-era, gasoline flamethrower at Robin for the past hour before Kitten got here," Cyborg deadpanned.

"Yeah dude, where do you even _get _one of those?" Beast Boy gaped.

"Internet," both he and Raven answered, fist bumping before getting back to what they were doing.

* * *

"Ow! Star! C'mon, don't drag me around like this!" Kitten cried out as Starfire dragged the blond down the hall, the toes of her shoes barely touching the ground. "If this is about the prom thing, I'm sorry, alright!"

"Do you truly mean that, Kitten?" Star asked, towering over the shorter blond as her eyes began to flare up. "Because if I find you to be insincere with your words, or that you plan to bring harm upon any of my friends..." she growled as the glowing of her eyes intensified.

"Starfire, relax, I won't try anything," she said trying to diffuse the situation without having to resort to her plasma whip. "I only wanted to take Robin with me so I had some arm candy, and Vent... because he was really sweet..." she said as she fought the blush coming to her face. "Contrary to popular belief, I'm a RobStar shipper, so I won't get in the way of that," she defended as she took her bags back.

"That is good," Starfire replied with a nod as she moved to escort Kitten to the guest room. "I have just one question," she said stopping mid-float.

"What is it?"

"What is the _shipping_?" the Tamaranean asked, Kitten jaw dropping at the alien girl's naivety.

* * *

**Though the setting for this story takes place within the universe of my other fanfiction Teen Titans: One of Four Elements, the events that take place in **_**this **_**story are not to be considered "FanFiction Canon", and as such the events here stand apart from the main storyline. The continuity of course can be interpreted however it may.  
**

**As for Vent getting his wisdom teeth taken out at the start of this chapter, it was inspired by real events (me getting **_**mine **_**taken out) to create buildup for what happened in the latter half of this chapter. That and because while I was blacking out from the narcotics they were putting me under, was when I came up with the idea to make this holiday off-shot.  
**

**On note of the "Damn Irish." comment, it was in no way meant to offend anyone of Scottish descent. It was a play on what Death said in Family Guy after Peter outran him with the two years of junior varsity track he had under his belt.**

**As for the "**leather glove being dragged down a bass guitar's strings" **bit at the end of the chapter, before the wonders of CGI and computerized special effects, the original Godzilla screech had to be made the old-fashioned way; by dragging a leather glove down the strings of a bass guitar.**


	2. Them Sounds like Fightin' Words

**Dear Diary,**

** Today, I thought I'd wind up having to spend the holiday season all alone, what with my daddy in jail and the possibility of getting to spend Christmas with Venty slim to none. However, like an angel from heaven, a ray of hope shone down on me, and now I get to spend the holiday season with my favorite brunette in the whole world. It may take some doing to smooth things over with the others, especially Robin and Starfire, but I'm crossing my fingers on this one. Here's to hoping things work out well this holiday season, and that maybe I can catch a certain **_**someone **_**under the mistletoe.**

These were the words written in one Kathryn Walker's personal diary yesterday evening when said teen went to bed. Of course this wasn't any _ordinary _diary; this one had lead lining to stop x-ray vision, a biometric security suite installed on the lock to prevent anyone but _her_ from reading it, and said lock was calibrated to deliver an electric shock to anyone that tried bypassing it. Let's just say it's enough to raise some hairs.

"Alright Kathryn, this is your first morning in the Tower. No need to be nervous, Vent smoothed things over with the others..." Kitten thought to herself as she brushed the knots out of her hair. _'I think,' _she thought to herself as she got dressed in something casual. Nothing _too _casual since this wasn't _her _house where she could wear whatever she wanted, but she did throw on pink snowflake-print sweater to be festive.

The room she had been given was on the opposite side of the Tower from Vent's room, likely a precaution Robin took for somewhat-obvious reasons, so her walk to the living room was not met with any familiar faces. As for her stay in the Tower, she couldn't go into any classified areas, or enter other people's rooms without prior permission, so it wasn't like she could go poking around too far anyhow. Coming upon what she _hoped _was the living room door, and that she hadn't gotten lost on the way there because all the hallways in the tower looked exactly the same, she stepped forward and the doors _***whoosh***_ed open in front of her, a twinge of jealousy going through the pit of her stomach at the sight that greeted her.

Vent was looking very casual this morning, wearing a simple blue hoodie and tan-colored pants, a pair of white-and-blue sneakers on his feet. What Kathryn was jealous of however, was the way he was embracing the girl in his arms like they were old friends, or possibly something more. She had long blond hair and blue eyes like her own though less care went into its upkeep, her attire consisted of a black sweater, yellow cargo pants, tan hiking boots, brown leather gloves on her hands, and a pair of clear-lens goggles dangling from around her neck.

Also, there was a large boulder set off to the side with a backpack sitting atop it. She had no idea how _that _got in there.

"Vent! Good morning!" Kitten called out to him as she strode forward, drawing his attention away from her fellow blond as she made her way over to them. "I thought maybe I'd make you some breakfast this morning and- Oh, who's your friend?"

"Oh, good morning, I didn't see you there," Vent returned.

"Ahem, Ven," the blond-haired girl said drawing his attention back to her. "Who is this? I don't remember her being here last time I checked."

"Right, where _are _my manners. Terr, this is my friend from town, Kathryn. Kathryn, this is Terra, a friend of mine from back in the day," the brunette said introducing the two.

"Yeah. _Way_ back in the day," the geokinetic said asserting her ranking as his first friend. "We met at an old western town and had to team up to fight off hordes of bandits, samurai, and ninja. How'd the two of _you _meet?"

"Vent took me to my junior prom," Kitten said with a smirk in return, relishing on the shocked expression Terra had on her face before she leveled a glare at her in return.

"Oh yeah, I heard about that. Internet said you had to _blackmail _them to get a date. Seems like the only way you _can _get one."

"Those sound like fighting words blondie, you really want to go that route?"

"Give it your best shot, _cat-girl_!" Terra growled as her geokinesis flared and the rock she rode into the living room divided into several large rocks, Kitten cracking her plasma whip across the ground in front of her.

"C'mon you two, don't fight. It's Christmas season, can't we all just get along?" Vent implored the two as he got in the middle of them, shielding the two girls from one another.

" . . . Fine. I'll stand down if _she _will," Terra said as she let her rocks drop to the floor.

"We're all cool here," Kitten said as she deactivated her plasma whip and stashed it back in her pocket.

"Great!" Vent said with a heartwarming smile. "Now, Kathryn, I'll have to pass on breakfast, my jaw is _killing _me, but don't wait up on my part. I'll see the two of you later, I need to take a nap since I had trouble sleeping last night," he said waving over his shoulder, leaving the resident blondes to their own devices.

" . . . So... You took Ven to prom, huh?" Terra asked after a few moment's pause, the two still standing across from one another in the middle of the room with crossed arms.

"_Junior _prom," Kitten punctuated.

"Right... So what was it like?" Terra asked out of curiosity.

"He was... nice. A perfect gentleman actually."

"I see..."

"Hey, Terra, what was Vent like? You know, back when you first met him?"

"Why do you ask?" Terra asked raising an eyebrow.

"Well, it's just... I got to hang out with him before, but I feel like there's so much more I don't know about him. So much he's holding back from everyone else and... I'm worried for him."

" . . . Why don't you walk with me? It's starting to feel a bit crowded in here," Terra said as Raven and Cyborg came into the room, Kitten nodding at the sentiment as the two headed out of the room.

* * *

"Alright guys, Christmas will be in a few days, and since this is the first one we'll be celebrating as a team, I think we should keep things simple with a Secret Santa drawing," Robin said addressing Cyborg, Beast Boy, Raven, Starfire, and Ventus a half-hour later after Terra and Kitten had left the room and everyone had been called up. He hadn't planned it out that way, but this was mostly for the Active Roster than anything.

"Secret Santa? But the Claws of Santa is no secret to _anyone_," Starfire interjected.

"Santa _Claus_," Vent corrected. "And I think what he's referring to is the six of us will draw one another's names to determine who we get a gift for."

"That's right," Robin stated. "This is the first Christmas we're having together, so let's keep things simple. I'd rather people _not _think we're made of money because of what we do."

"Would a home-made gift suffice?" Raven questioned.

"Yes, and I in fact recommend it," the spiky-haired teen returned. "I'm not saying you _have _to make something from scratch, but it's the thought that counts."

"Well alright then, let's get this party started," Cyborg said as he crammed his fist down into the Santa hat on the table with names in it. Schooling his expression as he looked his allotted name over before committing it to memory, he passed the hat around, each member of the team committing the name to memory before crumpling up the papers and handing them to Star, who held them within one of her starbolts and vaporized them.

"And with that, we can continue planning for the holiday season," Robin said getting up from his seat.

"Wait a minute," Vent spoke up. "What about Terra and Kathryn? Aren't we going to include _them_ in this?"

"At the moment Terra isn't a part of the team, and Kathryn doesn't live here."

"Well if no one else is going to try and make them feel welcome, I guess it's up to me," the blond huffed as he left the room, not even giving the others time to give a response.

* * *

"So your boyfriend broke up with you..."

"Uh huh."

"And you needed a date to the prom..."

"Yep."

"You managed to get Robin _and _Ven for the price of one..."

"Right on the money."

"And your boyfriend... had a giant spider for a _head_?" Terra asked Kitten as they were heading towards the new mall in the latter's car, Terra having air-lifted Kitten back to her place so they could do some holiday shopping. Thank goodness that new mall just opened. With the influx of people there and both of them wearing casual clothing, they were less likely to be picked out of the crowd and be bothered.

"Yeah... Not one of my brightest ideas," Kitten muttered to herself as she pulled into a parking space off to the side and locked up.

"So what're we doing here anyway?" Terra asked as she hugged her coat tighter against her frame.

"Isn't it obvious? Christmas shopping."

"Then let me reiterate. Why am _I _here? I don't have a lot of money on my person," the blond said pulling out her pockets.

"I need someone to help carry all the stuff I'm going to buy," Kitten answered, earning a scowl out of her fellow blond. "Alright look, if you help me, I'll let you put your name on them too. Deal?"

" . . . Deal," Terra acknowledged as the two shook hands before heading into the mall.

* * *

A couple hours later, the aesthetically ambiguous Kitten and Terra, resembling a pair of sisters holiday shopping for their friends more than anything else, had gotten almost all of their shopping done. Since Terra had _some _prior experience with the other Titans, Kitten allowed her to direct her on what they would like. As they made their way back to the parking lot from shopping, the two engaged in some casual conversation.

"You know, it isn't too late for you to get Vent something yourself. I'll even let you put just _your _name on it since you were so cool with this," Kitten noted as she dug through her purse for her keys, Terra carrying two of the bags while she got the remaining one.

"No need. I already have something _just_ for him," the geokinetic replied.

"Oh? You don't say_,_" Kitten said with a smirk, causing Terra to blush brightly.

"N-No not like _that_," she stammered. "It's just..." she trailed off as her hand went to the butterfly barrette over her right ear. "Ven was the first person to ever stick around whenever my powers got out of control, and even when I almost... _killed _him," she said swallowing, "he never gave up on me. My power would flare up at the worst of times and hurt a lot of people, but Ven looked past all that and really helped me out."

"Wow, I... I never knew your relationship with him was so deep," Kitten admitted in surprise. "Your powers were really that bad then?"

"Yeah, but his were pretty bad too, as much as I don't want to admit it. He didn't make tornados every five minutes, but there was a rather... _embarrassing _incident between the two of us," Terra said with a blush. "And before you ask, I don't plan on going into it. What happened is between the two of us."

"I understand," Kitten replied with a nod, panicked screams suddenly ringing out through the air and prompting her to turn around. "Oh what _now_?!" she cried out as a veritable stampede shot towards them, Terra yanking the girl off her feet and to the side as everyone ran in one direction. The next moment a rotund teen with unkempt orange hair wearing an overcoat burst out of the electronics store riding a mechanical dinosaur that breathed fire. "Oh man, not _that _guy," the blond groaned.

"Why? Who is that guy, and where'd he get the mecha Godzilla from?" Terra asked as she and Kitten peeked out from behind the pillar.

"He's just some couch potato with a souped-up remote that can make things out of TV come to life," Kitten answered. "Man, this guy's going to chew up so much of the Titan's day now."

"Not if _I _have anything to say about it," Terra growled as her fists lit up.

"Wait a minute, you can't take him by yourself!" Kitten said pulling her back.

"What do you want me to do? Things were so quiet up 'til now, and if the bad guys get _any_ kind of momentum, the guys can just say goodbye to their downtime," the blond argued.

"Terra..." Kitten said putting a hand on the blond's shoulder. "I'm going to teach you a little something I learned in high school gym."

* * *

"RUSH THE NEW GUY!" a girl's voice suddenly shouted from behind control freak as he rode his Mecha Godzilla. Turning around, a pink tendril of plasma suddenly lashed out through the air and smashed his remote clean in half, the mechanical fire-breathing lizard rezzing out from underneath and dropping him flat on his face. Peeling himself off the floor, he looked up in time to see chunks of concrete and floor tile rushing towards him. Finding himself between several dozen rocks and just as many hard places, his beady eyes widened as two massive golden hands made of energy suddenly materialized to his sides before clamping down on him. When the cocoon of stone shattered around him, the couch potato was dropped flat on his face.

As everyone scrambled trying to find out what was going on, the mall cops cuffing the man and dragging him off, two figures in the shadows, both with bags of gifts in their hands, made good their getaway before they were noticed.

* * *

At the same time back in Titans Tower, Ventus was laying on his bed, having dulled some of the pain in his jaw and was currently staring up at the ceiling. Sleep just wouldn't come to him, and with everything going on this holiday season, it was understandable. Living the life he had before, Christmas was just another day to be reminded of how much he _didn't _have when it came to the other kids. Another day to be reminded that without money, or title, or prestige, that even the most wishful child would be contemptuously ignored.

Getting into a sitting position as he leaned against the headboard, he contemplated his decision to bring Kathryn, more commonly known as Kitten, into the Tower. He knew he'd made the right choice by giving the girl a place to stay, what with no family of her own to be with her in the holidays. He knew if he were offered that kind of opportunity as a child, he would've taken it in a heartbeat. Still, the teen couldn't help but think maybe there was more he could do. More people he could help.

Mulling over what that nagging feeling was, trying to remember the people in his life he was overlooking, it dawned on him, and as such he got out of the bed. Scribbling a quick note saying he'd be out getting some air and leaving it on his desk, he grabbed his T-comm. before heading to the window. Stepping out onto the ledge as the automatic window closed behind him, he threw his body out into the chilling air as particles of ice began to descend from the saturated clouds above.

The next moment the wind picked him up, and he was swept away in a gust of snowflakes.

* * *

**The second chapter of my holiday special, which will likely reach its conclusion by New Years real-time (but don't hold me to that). I juggled the idea of Kitten and Terra interacting with one another in this universe to see how they'd react to one another, and I would like to think I did a decent job. Hope you all like the next chapter as well. **

**Also, I've never written in a Diary myself, so that right at the beginning was purely guesswork. I tried thinking of things from Kathryn's perspective, so I hope I did a good job on that too. On note of the move that I've implied Terra performed against Control Freak, essentially it's a scaled-down version of Jura Neekis' Supreme King Rock Crush out of the Fairy Tail anime.**


	3. Sibling Rivalries

Elsewhere in Titans Tower, since the criminal known as Control Freak was stopped by two unknown entities during his raid on the new mall, the resident superheroes did not need to intervene. This of course allowed the Tower's occupants to continue preparing for the holidays; a nice change of pace outside of having to hold the local authority's hand. It was at this moment that the resident alien was turning the entirety of her room upside down. The state of her bed was evidence enough of that.

"Oh no... Oh dear... Oh my..." Starfire fretted as she flung the contents of her closet across the room draping it a multitude of colors, both Terran and alien. "Please oh please oh _please _do not be telling me that I have run out of zorkaberries," she fretted nervously. Coming upon a pink purple-spotted pot, she pumped her fist in victory and opened it up, only to deflate when she saw it was bone dry. "Oh... _How_ can I make the cake of fruit without zorkaberries?"

"Maybe _I _can help with that," a familiar voice spoke up as the window opened behind her, the alien girl turning around and ignited her starbolts.

"Sister!" the redhead growled coming face to face with Blackfire, who had almost had her arrested by the Centauri police for a crime she did not commit.

"Whoa, whoa there sister," the black-haired woman said holding up her hands placatingly. "Like the stereotypical aliens depicted on this planet's media say, I come in peace," she said slowly drawing something out from behind her back. Staying her hand, Blackfire was able to bring out a large pink purple-spotted pot like the empty one in Starfire's hands.

"You understand if I find your presence here quite dubious in nature," Starfire said keeping her eyes trained on her sister, and if need be blast her with laser eyes. Opening the pot, she found that it was filled to the brim with zorkaberries, enough to make a whole _slew _of festive holiday foods, both from Earth and her home planet. "I am obligated to ask why you are not in a Centauri prison at the moment."

"I got time off for good behavior," she said, though it sounded more like a question.

" . . . SISTER!" Starfire suddenly squealed after a minute's pause, but for an entirely different reason, as she wrapped her arms around her sister's midsection and squeezed.

"Yep... Great to see you too sister..." Blackfire grunted within her sister's vice-like grip, the alien girl thankful her sister's time on Earth didn't teach her to hold a grudge. "So... I've been led to believe that Christmas is a pretty big deal on his planet."

"Oh yes, it is most _certainly _a deal of tremendous magnitude," Starfire replied with the gusto she was known for. "However, I am still trying to wrap my brain around why not _all _people celebrate this joyous holiday."

"It's wrap your _mind _around," Blackfire corrected, Starfire chuckling nervously at her misusage of the English language. "And as for why this holiday isn't celebrated by _all _people, I believe it's a religious thing."

"I am not familiar with that topic. Is there any way you could explain this to me?" Starfire asked.

"No time," Blackfire interjected. "We need to decorate the areas with the most foot traffic in this Tower using this festive holiday garnish," Blackfire said pulling a box out of her luggage. Inside was a cluster of smooth-edged oval evergreen leaves borne in pairs along the woody stem, with waxy white bereies in dense clusters. "Mistletoe!"

"And what is this festive holiday garnish of which you speak?" Starfire questioned. Sighing at her sister's lack of understanding when it came to Earth customs, even though she'd been there for _longer _than her, Blackfire whispered just why that particular holiday garnish was so important into her sister's ear. After a few seconds, a light bulb went off the younger alien sibling's head before she announced- "Let us begin decorating the room of living with this immediately! I am sure if I argue enough with chocolate-covered tofu products that Robin will let you stay like when friend Ventus brought Kitten in!" she declared excitetly, though was completely missing the point of why _Vent _eating tofu products was daunting in the first place.

"Oooh, so Vent brought a girl over? Tell me more," the black-haired sister said as the two headed to the living room, anxious to gossip like any teenage girl was.

* * *

Gaining control over her demon-born power was one of the hardest things Rachael "Raven" Roth ever had to do. While it was true she didn't have any choice in the life she was born into, there _was _something she did have a choice in, and that option was placed into _her _hands once she was made aware of the circumstances of her inception and subsequent birth; it was whether to let her powers run rampant or not. While the circumstances of her birth and her inevitable role in the apocalypse were considered unfair, she showed amazing clarity for one so young and chose to prolong her father's coming to the moral realm as much as she could.

Her powers were at her greatest, and most violent, when her emotional state was at its most profound. As a result, the Monks of Azarath had to gradually desensitize her to the subconscious use of her emotions through the use of meditation, incense, and rigorous mental study. As time went by, she created an entire realm within the depths of her psyche that transcended the physical world, and one by one she cast into it the mental representations of her emotions.

The Monks of Azarath had assured her that by doing this from the age of five until sixteen, that she would be prolonging the eventual apocalypse, and thus increasing the chance that something in the mortal realm could repel Trigon's coming. In recent times however, Raven had begun to question those teachings. The Monks told her that the world would end at Trigon's coming, but the words of one Vincent Valentine would ring into her ear as she meditated.

The prophecy said the world would end at Trigon's coming, but what of after? Was it possible for her to somehow overthrow her father after his arrival? But then, how would it be possible for do so without the greatest power she could muster? Her powers were at their greatest, but at their most uncontrolled when she allowed her emotions to run rampant. What would happen then if she allowed the very _personification _of those same emotions control of her powers? Raven herself was essentially the middle ground where all of her emotional states met, so what would happen if she allowed her emotional states themselves control on an individual level, rather than en masse where her powers could spiral beyond her ability to control?

This was the very same question that her various persona were debating at her proverbial "meeting of the minds". Since her emoticlones were effectively separate entities from herself, some could pragmatically diagnose Raven with Multiple Personality Disorder. Raven herself was one of them.

"Come on guys, you should let _me _out! I mean come _on_, I'm the local _party_ girl!" Happy cried out exasperatedly, clad in a modest Santa Girl outfit.

"What about me?" Lonely argued. "Christmas is a time for people like _me _to rise above our loneliness through the company of others."

"Meh, I don't really _give _a damn one way or the other," Rude said off to the side as she picked her ear, callously flicking the wax to the side regardless where it may land.

"What about _me_? Maybe _I _want to spend some time with him. We all know _gloom-girl _over here gets every day, seven days a _week _out in the open," Envy grumbled as she jabbed a finger in Raven's direction.

'_I swear to Azar, this is _just_ like that TV show Beast Boy made me watch about all the siblings living in the same apartment where they all looked exactly the same,' _Raven grumbled to herself as she drummed her fingers at the end of the council table she was sitting at. _'"This'll help you out with your emoticlones" my ass,'_ she grumbled to herself as her various persona argued with one another. How the green changeling thought some comedy with canned laughter would help her deal with her mental issues and _their _mental issues, she'd never know. "Remind me again, why we're having this discussion."

"Come on, everyone! Let's quit twiddling our thumbs and _do _this thing!" Brave shouted as she jumped up on the desk and pumped her fist in victory.

"YEAH!" Raven's various emoticlones cheered in agreement at varying levels.

"And _Vincent_!" an emoticlone in hot pink shouted from the background.

"YEAH!" the emoticlones shouted before the original realized who had said that and what the context was.

"How the hell did _you _get out!" Raven growled as she jabbed a finger at her more _perverse _iteration. She had explicitly locked _that _one within the deepest recesses of her mind for the very reason that the _last _time they interacted, she had scattered pictures of Vincent in the shower across her mindscape. It took her _days _of meditation to get the images of the brunette's naked form out from behind her eyelids.

"Oh come one, everyone here knows you want to jump his bones," Ero-Kara said with crossed arms. "I've got the pictures out of _your _psyche to prove them," she said slapping a stack of photos with the back of her hand.

"You put those things down this _instant_!" Raven shouted with a red face.

"Still, what she says _is_ true," a light blue-clad emoticlone stated matter-of-factly.

"Honesty, now is _not _the time for you to be agreeing with this humongous pervert," Raven grumbled at the part of her that dictated her honesty. That honesty of course was sullied when Rude came into the mix and turned that honesty into sarcasm, but that wasn't really the point at the moment.

"But Raven, don't you love him?" Love questioned sincerely.

"And what if I do? What am I supposed to say to him?" Raven demanded, Lonely disappearing and Raven's cloak gaining a gray tint. "No matter _what _I say to him, no matter how heartfelt or sincere my words may be, it won't change the fact that on my eighteenth birthday, everything and everyone he holds dear to him... will vanish from this world," she said hugging her arms around herself. "In the end, both mine and _his _hearts would be broken... And that's even if he feels the same about me," she said as she reeled in control of her emotions, Lonely regaining her corporality. The more observant emoticlones residing within her mind noticed she did not deny _her _love for him, though there was no point in bringing it up. _They _were _her_, and the fact that she cut them off when they tried to reason with her only cemented the fact that she was denying what she was really feeling.

"Isn't it better to have loved and lost than to have never have loved at all?" Love questioned as she tried to take Raven's hand in her own, only for the original to snatch it away.

"Not if the same person you love brings about the end of humanity. He deserves... He deserves to be with someone that _won't _end up taking everything from him, including his life. No matter how indirect my role in that fate may be, it still won't change the fact that what happens to him, and everyone else, will be my fault," the original bluenette finished. This caused the emoticlones around her to fall silent for several minutes, not a soul or mind speaking, until the one that had remained silent the entire time had decided to do so.

"Raven, what Vent wants most for you is to be happy, regardless of what holiday it is or isn't," Knowledge stated as she adjusted her glasses, which recently had been adjusted to rectangular wire-rim. "Don't you think that if you were to come to the party wearing a genuine smile on your face, enjoy the festivities to their fullest, that it would be the best thing you could give to him?"

" . . . I'll think on it," Raven said with crossed arms as she returned to the real world, propping her elbow on her desk as she began to drum her fingers. _'I suppose if I don't at least _try _to get into the holiday spirit, that I'll never hear the end of it. _God _my mental issues have issues,' _she sighed to herself as she rubbed her temples.

* * *

**A little bit of elaboration before the next chapter, where I finally reveal where Ventus went off to _last_-chapter. I wanted to add a bit of context between Starfire and her sister, as well as shed a bit of light onto our local heroic mage for the RaVent shippers out there.**


	4. Burying the Holiday Hatchet

Elsewhere on the holiday season, the graduates of Hive Academy, having grouped themselves together for the "power in numbers" mentality, were huddled up to the radiator against the wall of their Burn Out Lair. Such lairs of course were old war bunkers re-purposed by HIVE and used by HIVE graduates until they moved onto bigger and better things. Of course, the reckless abandonment of the underground facilities whenever that happened tended to leave the places in a state of disrepair before new occupants came in.

Just like it was now.

"C'mon man. When're you going to get the heater back on?" Seemore asked as he rubbed his arms, the breath leaving his lips turning cold when it hit the open air.

"Give me a break here cludge-bucket! I'm working as fast as I can here!" Gizmo shouted over their communication devices; hexagonal-shaped Hive Phones, which were essentially rip-offs of the T-Comms. that were reverse-engineered from technology that Jinx was able to pinch when she and her team had infiltrated Titans Tower early on in the young heroes' careers. "Maybe if you pit-sniffers didn't overload the damn thing trying to heat up every room at the same time, I wouldn't have to be DOWN HERE!"

"But it's _cold_," Mammoth grumbled.

"Oh suck it up, will ya? You don't see _Cheshire_ shivering like you guys," Jinx huffed as she pointed over her shoulder, the neko-kunoichi sitting in the lotus position on the couch. "Seriously, if you had even _half _the fortitude she had, you wouldn't be whining like this," she huffed as she curled up in her pink-and-black blanket.

"What the hairball?! Where the fuck did this _snowball _come from!?" Gizmo suddenly shrieked from his end of the line, the others looking back at the Hive Phone as the sounds of snow being pelted against the local midget echoed into the room. "Ah! Ow! Hey, quit it!"

"Shouldn't we help him?" Seemore questioned as the local midget continued to freak out.

"I'm wondering who brought snowballs into the base," Mammoth mused.

"And none of you happen to be curious as to how someone bypassed _all _of our security measures?!" Jinx demanded. After a few moments Kyd Wykkyd got up from his seat, throwing the blanket he was using aside as he headed for the basement.

"Come on, guys. Gizmo won't help himself," Seemore sighed as he got to his feet and followed after.

* * *

"Gizmo! What's going on in here!" Jinx cried out as she and the others rushed into the heater room, the floor and walls covered in splotches of snow and Gizmo huddling behind some machinery while the unseen assailant bombarded him with snowballs. "AIEE!" she cried as one of them beaned her in the face.

"This nutjob in a hoodie came out of the air vent and started chucking _snowballs _at-" Gizmo said before another ball of snow pelted him in the face and cut him off. "ME!" he cried out as he got to his feet and wiped the offending snow from his face.

"You don't think it's-" Seemore started before he was pelted in the face, Kyd pulling him behind some machinery while the others ducked for cover. The next moment a figure in the shadows leapt through the air, a storm of kunai pelting the ground around them.

"Hey Cheshire, this happen to be a friend of yours?" Jinx asked from her position against the wall, a couple dozen kunai a half-inch away from her body making an outline. Cheshire's only response was to pluck one of the knife-like ice-born protrusions from the floor, eyeing it before she disappeared from view.

"He's heading back into the air vents!" Gizmo shouted as the shadowed figure tore out one of the grates and shot back into it.

"Seemore! I want eyes on him!" Jinx shouted as she and the others ran towards the exit.

"I've only got _one _eye!" the cycloptic teen shouted as he turned a dial on the side of his helmet and changed his vision to ifared, Cheshire's disembodied eyes and smile bobbing into the air vent after the escaping antagonist.

* * *

"He's right outside that door!" Seemore shouted as he and the others reached the foyer, one final door separating them from the outside and the person that had attacked Gizmo.

"Attack Patter: Beta!" Jinx ordered. Without missing a beat Mammoth smashed the door off its hinges before kicking it out at the person on the other side, who leapt off the staff in his hand and into the air. Jinx then used the larger teen as a stepping stone and spun into the air, throwing a flurry of hexbolts at her target who rolled across the ground. Not a moment later, Gizmo flew overhead with his bat wings and carpet bombed the target's position, said target spinning his staff overhead and repelling the explosive charges, a wall of dust, ice, and smoke rising around him.

"Did we get him?" Mammoth asked as he got to his feet.

"Wait for the smoke to clear. If he's still standing, give him hell," Jinx ordered as she and the others formed a vanguard formation in front of their base's hidden entrance. Slowly the smoke began to clear, revealing a figure in his teens close to five and a half feet tall if not taller. His attire consisted of white toe sneakers on his feet, tan-colored pants, and a blue hoodie with a thin layer of frost over the shoulders. Held in his right hand was a long silver staff and his hood was up, a mess of frost-covered brown hair spilling out into view.

"YOU?!" Gizmo shouted once he caught sight of the figure's crimson-colored eyes. "What the hell are _you _doing here!?"

"How'd you know where we live?" Seemore demanded with as much gusto as he could manage.

"Chillax, dude. Put down the video game controller every once in a while," Vent said throwing out his hand at Gizmo, a flurry of white-and-silver wind flowing over his hands. When the attack subsided, Gizmo's hands and video controller were encased in-

"Ice!? You can make _ICE _now?!" Gizmo shrieked as he looked down at his hands, finding them frozen to his controller in a solid clump of ice. "When the flying-fuck could you do _that_!?"

"Fuck you, that's how," the brunette quipped as he balanced atop his staff before flipping off of the end at Mammoth's charge and froze him from behind with a thrust of wind from his hand.

"What's the big idea attacking us in our own home?" Jinx asked, trying to distract the snow-covered teen long enough for Mammoth to bust his way out of the ice around him.

"Apart from the fact that you did so to me and _my _friends," he said walking around Mammoth's front and threw another layer of ice over his chest up to his neck. "It's the holidays, so I'm trying to extend the olive branch," he said balancing himself on his staff, Mammoth trying once again to break free, only to find he could not do so now that his leverage had been taken away.

"What are you talking about?" Jinx asked in order to keep him talking, Kyd Wykkyd appearing silently behind him only for the brunette to twirl his staff so the top end bopped the darkly-dressed teen on the end, before a flick of the wrist brought the opposite end up between the teen's legs.

"Every other day of the year we're at one another's throats," Vent said once again balancing himself on his staff, Kyd clutching his aching balls as he fell to the ground, Mammoth winching while Gizmo tried to free his hands. "I'm here to offer a temporary truce in the spirit of the holidays."

"Why be so forthcoming?" Jinx questioned, Seemore sneaking up behind the teen in an attempt to get a pot shot at him from behind.

"Is it so hard to believe that I'd like to extend holiday blessings during Christmas, instead of giving my ex-schoolmates the-" Vent said as he threw his hand over his shoulder, sending a wave of ice out at Seemore and freezing him up to his neck. "Cold shoulder," he finished as he poked the cycloptic teen in the face with his staff and tipped him over.

"N-N-N-Not funny man!" the cycloptic teen cried out, feeling quite cold in his prison of ice.

"As I was saying, the Titans are having a Christmas party this year, and I figured, what better way to keep an eye on you than to have you over for the party so we know where you are?" he questioned before he found something sharp pressed against his throat. Looking over his shoulder, he saw a disembodied pair of eyes, Cheshire smiling at having been able to get so far inside his guard. "What about you, Neko-chan?" the brunette asked as he swatted her hand away from his throat. Lunging forward once again, her eyes widened when the brunette's hand darted into her kimono before pulling out one of her kunai, the two now holding one another at knifepoint. "What are _your _thoughts on my proposal? Robin may raise some hell about this, but I think I can talk him down, and you all joining us for the holidays would certainly be better than freezing your butts off in this Burn Out Lair, aren't I right?"

" . . . " Cheshire was silent for a moment as she faded back into view, lowering her kunai from the brunette's throat and he did the same. Standing on her tip-toes as she pulled himself up to his ear, she began whispering her response. Since the kunoichi was wearing a mask her lips couldn't be read, and none of them understood Japanese. Jinx's understanding of the Japanese language was limited, though at the moment she was attempting to find a way to get a shot in, and maybe get some leverage over the Titans. "Nakama?"Cheshire eventually asked after a minute as she placed herself between Jinx and Ventus, extending a hand to him after their short chat.

"Nakama," Vent replied with a smile as he slid his hand in Cheshire's sleeve and shook hers in return, the kunoichi blushing slightly behind her mask before she disappeared from view. Of course it wasn't perfect, because Vent could see her eyes and smile bobbing back into the base. "Well, I'll leave you guys to think my offer over. Happy holidays!" he said as he began to back away. "Wind, take me home!" he called out as he jumped into the air, the wind picking up before he was carried out of sight in a frigid gust.

" . . . Guys. I'm still stuck," Mammoth grumbled after a minute's pause. Not even bothering to repress the urge to slap himself, Gizmo did so... only to club himself in the face with the controller that was still frozen to his hands and knock himself out.

"I'll go in and get the ice pick," Jinx grumbled as she walked back into the base. "At the least if we take him up on his invitation, we'll be able to stay in a place with central heating."

* * *

**The other day I watched **Rise of the Guardians**, and it was right as I was thinking of a chapter to write after the second one, that I remembered a scene out of the movie when Jack Frost was in what I believed to be in Russia and **_**literally **_**rode the wind.**

**Since both Jack and Ventus can ride the wind, albeit through different methods (though they carry themselves the same way), I figured for this holiday special I could give Ventus Cryokinesis as an extension on his own Aerokinesis. For those of you that've watched **Justice League Unlimited**, you'll know that Wind Dragon had Aerokinesis that evolved into Cryokinesis (the wind lowered the ambient air temperature to create ice). **

**Of course I doubt I'll make such a change in the main story, so I'll leave his ice-manipulating powers specific to the special.**


	5. Arriving Guests

"Hey guys, I'm back. What'd I miss?" Vent asked as he flew into the living room an hour or so later after he had initially left.

"Starfire, I will _not _have an escaped alien fugitive hide away in this _Tower_!" Robin argued with Starfire, her elder sister Blackfire standing behind her at that very moment.

"I'm heading out guys," Vent said turning on his heel and heading for the window once again.

"Oh no you don't!" Robin shouted, his arms stretching into the background from Blackfire's perspective and yanking the brunette across the room. "You started this whole mess by bringing _Kitten _into the Tower without running it by me first. Now Starfire wants her _sister _to stay here for the Holidays, and last time I checked, she was arrested by the Centauri Police for half a dozen crimes in just as many systems."

"This probably isn't the best time to bring up that I invited some of the kids from Hive here for the holidays as well, is it?" Vent said as he shook the ice crystals out of his hair.

"You did _WHAT_!?" the spiky-haired teen demanded he demanded as the brunette casually dusted the ice off his shoulders.

"Tofu-pop time," Vent said reaching into the background from _his _perspective and brought out another one of Beast Boy's chocolate-covered tofu pops. Biting down into it before Robin could stop him, the sound of a leather glove being dragged down a bass guitar's strings once again filled the Tower's halls. As Robin screamed like a little girl, Ventus chasing him with his vintage Vietnam-era gasoline flamethrower, a dinosaur-shaped shadow against the wall breathing fire at Robin's, Blackfire tapped her sister's shoulder before asking-

"Did this become a _thing _since I was last here?"

"I am afraid I do not know what you are asking," her sister replied.

"Yeah, that figures," Blackfire sighed, the door to the room opening as Robin and Vent made another lap around the room, Terra and Kitten looking around in confusion before walking up to the two girls.

"So... Are you two sisters or is one of you a clone?" Kitten asked.

"Older sister. I'm guessing you're the girl Vent brought into the Tower," Blackfire responded.

"I am," the blond responded, her eyes following Vincent as he made Robin scream like a little girl before the other blond in the room asked-

"Is it a little weird that I'm being turned on by this?" Terra asked, earning an incredulous look from her fellow blond. "_What_? I was only asking."

" . . . " was Kitten's response to that. Sure, she was guilty of having her own fantasies about certain boys with brown hair, but at least _she _tried to keep a lid on it.

"On Tamaran, physical arousal at witnessing the object of one's affection commit acts of violence against another is actually quite common," Starfire answered without missing a beat, Terra breathing a sigh of relief while Kitten slapped her face and Blackfire went back to watching the free show, feeling a little hot under the collar herself at the sight. Back on Tamaran watching young men beat the stuffing out of one another was a hobby of young women regardless of age group.

* * *

"Raven... What am I supposed to be seeing right now?" Beast Boy asked as he and the residential mage entered the living room. Starfire and her elder sister Blackfire were preparing food in the kitchen like the falling-out between them had never happened, Terra and Kitten were making gossip while looking through a Christmas-themed fashion magazine, Ventus was chasing Robin around with his flamethrower and sending out a gout of fire whenever the latter began to slow down, and Cyborg was bringing boxes of Christmas decorations into the room like there was nothing out of the ordinary going on.

"I think Vent got into one of your tofu-pops again. You should really stop making those," the mage said plainly as she walked on by, Robin somehow dragging Beast Boy into the fight, the changeling screaming as the spiky-haired teen proceeded to use him as a human shield. "So... You two seem to be getting along well," Raven said walking up to the two blondes.

"Yeah, who knew," Terra said with a shrug of her shoulders, Raven giving a curt nod in return as she walked into the kitchen, the familiar scent of zorkaberries mixed with Christmas cooking wafting into her nose.

"Let me guess. You got time off for good behavior," Raven stated to Blackfire. The mage made a note to keep her eye on Blackfire in case there was a repeat of what happened last time. If worse came to worse, she could always sic Vent on her. She'd read enough of his surface thoughts to know what lay underneath in the time she'd known him, and what lied beyond the surface was _not _foe-friendly.

"Yes. How'd you know?" Blackfire questioned.

"Lucky guess," Raven stated with a curt nod as she headed for the couch, kicking up her feet and surfing the channels. "Vent!" she said drawing his attention away from the torching. "I have a crick in my neck and a migraine the size of the T-Car. Can you come over here and give me a neck massage?" she asked more openly than she was known for, the others looking up from what they were doing since Raven _never _let anyone get that close to her. Let _alone _ask anyone to give her a massage.

"Sure! Let me just finish up here!" he called out. Pulling the trigger on his flamethrower and lighting Robin's ass on fire with a fresh gout of flame, while Beast Boy transformed into an elephant and hosed Robin's ass off, Raven shed her cloak and set it to the side. While the bluenette sighed into the brunette's grip as he rubbed the knots out of her neck and shoulders, the two blondes in the room tiptoed around the side of the room to watch. Seeing what Raven was hiding beneath her cloak and gauging how earnestly Vent heeded her beck & call with only the slightest prompting, the two looked to one another before nodding.

"_Come on. Let's step up our game,"_ the two said to one another before they tiptoed off, plans to catch a certain someone's attention brewing in their minds.

* * *

"So... Things seem to be picking up around here," Beast Boy said sitting on the couch a couple hours later, watching TV with Ventus, Cyborg, and Raven. Since the Mythbusters were running a Christmas special and it wasn't as mindless as the _rest _of the electronic programming the changeling watched, the four were able to agree to watch it.

"Yep," Vent responded.

"Mm'hm," Cyborg added.

"Starfire and her sister seem to be getting along," the changeling added.

"Yep."

"Mm'hm."

"Terra and _Kitten _getting along so well was certainly a curveball," Beast Boy added, the bruntte and chrome dome nodding in affirmation. "You know, we haven't heard from them for a couple hours. You think they're doing anythiiing..." he drawled out jokingly.

" . . . Ventus, give the command," Raven stated.

"Cyborg, give the command," Ventus stated.

"Beast Boy, shut up," the chrome dome stated.

"What? All I was saying was-"

"Cyborg, give the command," the mage stated.

"Vent, give the command," the cyborg stated

"Shut up, green version of Meg," Vent ordered, the changeling's ears drooping as he flicked the glasses and hat off his face that had somehow found their way there.

"Sooo, do you guys rehearse this or what?" a yellow red-accented speedster asked munching on their chips.

"Kid Flash? Hey, great to see you, man!" Cyborg said clapping a hand onto the teen's shoulder. "When'd _you _get here?"

"Around the same time BB said there were a couple girls in the Tower unsupervised," the skinny teen said as he kicked his feet up onto the table and dropping a travel bag matching his costume. "Should I be _worried _about that?" His tone of course was more indicative of a person who wanted to _watch _rather than _stop _such certain acts of debauchery.

"Well now, I don't see how that's any of your damn business," the brunette said with narrowed eyes as he glared at the speedster.

"Why? You afraid there won't be enough blond left for _you_?" the speedster chuckled.

"Vent, give the command," Cyborg said with crossed arms.

"Raven, give the command," the brunette said crossing his arms.

"Shut up, fast version of Meg," the bluenette finished off.

"Okay seriously, you three have _got _to be rehearsing this in your spare time," Kid Flash noted as he decided to drop the topic. Three on one, he'd lose no matter _how _fast he was, whether it was in fighting or bickering.

"Pre-rehearsed bickering aside," Raven then stated as she telekinetically changed the channel, in lieu of touching the sweaty remote with her hands. "Are you the first to arrive?"

"Yeah. The members of Titans West and our other friends from the Tournaments should be here soon," Kid returned as he zipped into the kitchen and back into his spot a second later, now holding a large Dagwood sandwich. "Sho..." he said chewing on a couple layers of cheese, lettuce, tomato, and meat. "Whosh the colorschwapped vershun of Schtarfire?"

"Man, swallow your _food _before you speak," Vent grumbled as Kid Flash launched spittle all over the table.

"_*Gulp* _Sorry," Kid returned after swallowing. "But really, who is that chick? 'Cause she is h-o-t _hot_!" he said as he eyed her over.

"Keep your eyes above the neckline or you'll lose them to her laser face," the brunette said facing the TV without missing a beat, the red-head whipping his head around.

**"VEEEEENTUUUUUS!"** a voice shouted through the Tower.

"Oooooh fuck me," the brunette groaned as he got to his feet and headed for the elevator.

"Well there are certainly plenty of hot _girls _around," the speedster chuckled. The brunette's only response was to snap his fingers, wisps of wind sweeping over the red-head's mouth and encasing it in a layer of ice, leaving Cyborg and Beast Boy slack-jawed as the brunette left the room.

* * *

"Seriously, if I didn't know you were a guy, I'd swear you were _menstruating _right now," were the first word that left Vent's lips as he exited the elevator and walked forward into the lobby. "Pantha, Argent, Supergirl. Sorry if the m-word offended you," he said turning to three of the heroines that had already arrived, Wildebeast, Hotspot, and Blue Beetle in tow. "Alright seriously, Robin, _what _are you bitching about now? Once again I apologize if the b-word offended any of you," he said turning to the recently-arrived females.

"For a guy you sure do apologize a lot," Supergirl noted.

"I get that a lot, and I'll try to refrain from the offending commentary," Vent said before facing Robin again. "Anyway, Robin, what're you going on abou-ohhh... That..." he said once his eyes landed on his ex-schoolmates from Hive.

"Care to explain _this _one?" Robin asked with crossed arms, the initial explanation having been a flamethrower to the ass, so no clear-cut explanation was ever given. At the moment he and the other heroes in the room were having a standoff against Jinx, Cheshire, Gizmo, Mammoth, Seemore, and Kyd Wykkyd, as well as another person in red with a division sign emblazoned on his chest.

"Same principle behind Blackfire and Kitten being in the Tower despite their past transgressions. Because it's the holidays, and in the same case of the latter, I invited them here," Vent said before facing Jinx who stood at the front of their group. "I assume you didn't have a hard time finding your way here?"

"You live in a giant _T_, cludge-head! Even a _blind _guy could-" Gizmo shrieked before Mammoth slapped a hand over his mouth. Their group may've outnumbered the Teen Titans as they were, but with the recent additions coming into the room as well as _Supergirl_, they were hosed if a fight broke out. At first they thought Gizmo was pulling their leg when he told them about being pulled into a superhero tournament in another dimension, but _clearly_, the Titans had been networking if the dozen-or-so heroes now in the lobby were anything to go by.

"Ventus. How do you intend to explain your actions?" Robin questioned.

_***crunch-nom-nom-nom***_

"OH GOD NO!" Robin cried out in panic as the brunette tossed the empty popsicle stick behind him.

"**GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" **the brunette screeched as he brought out his vintage Vietnam-era gasoline flamethrower and sent a gout of flame at the spiky-haired teen. Despite the fact that his high-density polymerized titanium cape was completely fireproof, it was the fact that what couldn't actually hurt him was in the hands of a _crazy person _that was freaking him the fuck out. While some would think the jury was up on whether or not Ventus was mentally unstable, he _knew_. Oh yes, he knew.

"And they say superheroes don't know how to party," Seemore chuckled, only for Jinx to elbow him in the side. He was thankful _Mammoth _hadn't done so, otherwise he would've been sent through a wall.

* * *

**Next chapter, the Christmas craziness starts and the story ends. Sorry if you wanted the story to be longer, but I didn't want to deviate too far from the initial purpose that I made this story from. If there are certain situations you want to see or certain characters interact with one another, put those ideas in Reviews and they might make it into the final chapter.  
**


	6. Christmas Craziness & Mistletoe Mishaps

**Sorry for the wait, for those of you that were waiting. Time slipped away from me during Holiday Break, I had to get used to the swing of things in college, but this is the final chapter of this story. I hope you enjoy the work I put into it.**

** . . . Enjoy!  
**

* * *

After Vent got off of his "tofu high", or rather when everyone was finished _watching _and decided to do something about it, a set of ground rules were set for the attending Hive students who would inevitably be staying in the Tower for the holidays; if Robin brought it up again he'd get another torching from the brunette's flamethrower, and he didn't even know where the guy _got _the damn thing.

First and foremost, the group would get two rooms, one for the girls and one for the boys; just because they were going to be accommodating doesn't mean they'd be so accommodating that each and every one of them would get an individual room. Jinx and Cheshire had it easy enough since they had to split a rather spacious room. Gizmo, Mammoth, Seemore, Kyd Wykkyd, and the redneck Billy Numerous on the other hand were all cramped into the room across the hall and with all the superheroes around there was nothing they could do about it. If all seven bum-rushed Supergirl they _might _stand a chance against her, but if anyone else raised a hand to help they'd be totally hosed and sent right to prison. Secondly, they weren't allowed to go into any of the sensitive areas, meaning they could only stay on the top three floors which were the living areas. Thirdly, they were not allowed to go near any wall consoles, mess with the order of the CDs, eat their food without permission, or cause any form of trouble; failure to comply would result in a fight and then trip to the slammer. While Billy Numerous _could _clone himself, with the number of heroes that would only increase as the big Christmas party neared they'd eventually find themselves outmanned and outgunned.

As such, the students from Hive caused no problems. While most of the guys simply enjoyed the central heating, Kyd Wykkyd and Jinx actually got into the holiday spirit and help set up decorations in the living room. Cheshire was nowhere to be seen, but then again she _was _a ninja that could turn invisible; with the exception of her eyes and smile. Of course with all her skill that didn't really matter.

The next guests to arrive were the dynamic duo of Titans West, Bumblebee and Crazy. It was certainly quite a shock that Bumblebee was a double-agent, given that both Cyborg and Ventus thought she was the school mascot with her bee-themed attire. With the addition of another girl in the Tower it was getting to be less of a sausage fest, and there was no short supply of entertainment as Crazy had somehow gotten his hands on his _own _flamethrower while no one was looking, slipped tofu-milk into the hot cocoa that Starfire made for Ventus, and then the two least mentally-stable people in the Tower proceeded to try lighting Robin on fire. The weird thing was that _both _of them had somehow gotten their hands on vintage Vietnam-era gasoline flamethrowers.

Static, Gear, and She-Bang out of Dakota, as well as Speedy and Aqualad from Titans West arrived at the Tower the same evening; by blue whale no less, and driven by Aqualad's sister, Aqua-Lass. Suffice it to say, the guys from Hive were absolutely _terrified _of being there and weren't too keen on trying _anything_, regardless of how insistent Gizmo was that they try and gas the place before taking over. If it were just the Titans that was one thing, but now they were surrounded by around two-dozen young heroes, and that was the absolute _worst _position legally ambiguous teens such as themselves wished to find themselves in.

It was the following day that Mas and Menos arrived at the Tower by foot after locking up Titans West, the two having insisted that they could handle it by themselves. It was after a few hours of looking through the Spanish-to-English dictionary that the rest of the team finally interpreted what they said and were able to leave. Pouring out of a storm cloud that appeared inexplicably above the Tower shortly after the cutaway were Thunder, Lightning, and Zephyr, all of whom had come down to see what all the hoopla was about. Given that "The Idiot Brothers" as Zephyr liked to call her cousins, wanted to see what the big deal was about Christmas, the wind spirit felt obligated to ensure the collateral damage her siblings may cause was kept to a minimum. There were _so _many questions were asked that day about them, but most of them were re-directed once the topic of _religion _came up.

The same evening, Artemis, Wondergirl, and Batgirl all arrived at the Tower after letting their superhero teachers know where they were going. It was around the time that the three got settled in, the Tower nearing full capacity at about 40 teenage to young-adult heroes, that a rather perplexing phenomena occurred within the living room. It had started simply enough, with both Kitten and Terra asking Vent if he could rub the soreness out of their hands, which had come from the _secret project _the two had committed themselves to for the past couple days. It was a simple enough request between friends and as such the brunette was willing to comply.

Seeing that there was a bit of pampering going around, Blackfire kicked her feet up and told the brunette to rub her feet since she had been making repeated trips to the grocery store with her sister in order to feed the over-three-dozen hungry mouths in the Tower. The alien woman had added a "please" to it, and the brunette _–who had overlooked the fact that she could've just as easily _flown _most of the way, and also had super-strength-_ saw no reason to refuse. It was around the time that Blackfire asked him to begin massaging her exotic -_and shapely_- orange-skinned legs, despite his initial reluctance and reddened face, that Raven took one of the seats on the couch and asked the brunette for another neck massage, saying the large number of people and noise at night had been making it difficult for her to relax.

A few of the guys were agape at how much physical contact the brunette was having with the female populace, and also at how much in stride he seemed to be taking it all. The women who didn't feel like getting pampered _–for the moment-_ were amazed at how much self-control the brunette had not to cop a feel in the position he was in that most would kill for. Eventually, the brunette found himself playing the role of masseuse-on-rotation for Raven, Kitten, Terra, Blackfire, Argent, Supergirl, She-Bang, Artemis, and Zephyr, and it was a few hours into the repeated pampering of the three-quarter-dozen young women, where not once did he accidentally touch any of them in a place that he shouldn't, that the brunette began to show signs of tiring.

* * *

"Do you think perhaps we've been taking advantage of him?" Argent asked as the brunette was laid out across the table in front of them, staring up at the ceiling with his fingers twitching every few seconds from the constant use.

"I thought this was just a thing around here, and went along with it," She-Bang noted as she changed the channel.

"It isn't. You were all taking advantage of him," Terra said with crossed arms.

"The two of you started it, so his exhausted state is of _your _making," Zephyr stated with a neutral expression. Supergirl chuckled as the two's faces lit up like the Christmas tree off in the corner. They were almost as red as _Vent_ who looked like a traffic light the moment Blackfire removed her metal leggings and presented the orange-skinned flesh for his ministrations.

"There's nothing wrong with having a young man pamper us if he's all for it," Blackfire chuckled crossing one leg over the other, the boys in the room having seldom taken their eyes off them once the visual obstruction had been removed. Something that caused a few present to tug at their collars.

"Vent, you okay down there?" Kitten asked shaking his shoulder, his only response being a tired wheeze.

"You had him pamper the nine of you for the last two _hours_ or so," Jinx butted in from the side, having found herself chatting amicably with Kid Flash after his initial attempts at flirting with her. "Honestly, I'm surprised none of you forced him to give you mani _pedies_ yet."

"We wouldn't do that!" Kitten argued. _"Unless he offered,"_ the blond muttered to herself, though those with enhanced hearing heard it all. It was at this moment that Cheshire walked up to the table from out of nowhere, extending her hand to the exhausted brunette.

"_*Pant* _Thanks... _*pant*_ Neko-chan," he replied playfully, the kunoichi nodding as she threw one of his arms over her shoulder, before taking one of the throw pillows much to the others' confusion. While it was strange that the Japanese girl set the brunette onto the floor and rested his head on the pillow, no one thought anything of it before she suddenly straddled his back, shook all the pointy objects out of her sleeves, and dug into his back with her manicured fingers.

"Ack!" Vent yelped as her fingers dug into his flesh, the others _–particularly some of the girls-_ moving in thinking Cheshire was hurting him, only for the brunette to suddenly sigh contentedly. "Ahhhhh... That actually feels pretty good, Neko-chan. Arigato," he sighed as he closed his eyes into the pillow, Cheshire giving a curt nod as she continued on like there was nothing strange about what was going on at the moment. Vent's hands had been all _over _nine different women's bodies for the past two hours, so it wasn't so strange for another to be returning the favor, right?

"Hey Ven?"

"Hm?" Vent asked looking up from the pillow he was currently facedown in.

"You've been using your hands an awful lot today. How about I return the favor?" Terra asked as she took the brunette's left hand in her own, her fingers digging into the muscles of his palm, holding the back of his hand to her chest. They may've been small, but she wasn't a washboard by any means.

"Oh, you don't need to-oh... That feels nice too," the brunette sighed as his head dropped down into the pillow once again. A moment later he turned his head to the right, Kitten sitting cross-legged as she began to massage his other hand. When he made to speak up, the blond placed a slender finger to his lips and made a shushing sound, the brunette slowly nodding his head before he closed his eyes and let what was happening, happen.

"This is the strangest four-way I've ever laid eyes on," Kid Flash noted from the side, Jinx elbowing him in the ribs while a certain mage kept her eyes on her book and not what was happening a short distance away. While she was tempted to light someone within a certain brunette's proximity on fire with her powers, she ran the risk of hurting said brunette, and thus did not give into her darker urges.

* * *

"You know, I just realized something," Vent finally spoke up after twenty minutes mid-massage, those who had overcome the initial novelty of seeing someone straddled in the living room looking down at the "four-way" as Kid Flash put it. "First is that I can no longer feel my legs."

"Gomen," Cheshire apologized as she got off the brunette's back, allowing him to get back to his feet, albeit a bit shakily.

"Arigato," he nodded. "Second, where's Railgun? I don't think she's come in yet."

"Oh, that's right," Artemis noted as she pulled a folded postcard out of her belt. "I met up with Railgun earlier this week, told me to give this to you," she said handing the postcard to the brunette. "It's in Japanese, so I couldn't understand a word it said. I'm guessing _you _can because that's what she wrote it in," she said off-handedly as the brunette began reading the postcard, Terra, Kitten, and an unseen-except-for-her-eyes-and-smile Cheshire reading over his shoulder to see what it said.

"Hm. I see," the brunette noted, though the only thing Kitten and Terra were able to read was the brunette's name. In the case of Cheshire, she read that Railgun _would've _come for the party when Artemis dropped by, but there was a skirmish with the local yakuza and a near-rape incident, so the sukeban needed to mobilize her gang and beat them back. Also, she wished them all a happy holiday, but that was a given. "Thanks for delivering this to me, Artemis."

"No problem. You can make it up to me with another massage," she said kicking off her boots.

"Bu-Wha? But I just got done with your _shoulders_, and don't you find it weird with me putting my hands... on you?" the brunette questioned with a reddening face.

"What's there to be ashamed about? You're great with your hands. In fact, I might have to take you on full-time," the blond chuckled playfully.

"Now you wait just a _minute_!" Terra blurted out. "Ven is _my _friend and I won't have you hogging him!"

"There's more than enough of him to go around. Or are you afraid I may _steal _him from you?" the blond archer asked as she puffed out her chest, Terra doing so as well, though the comparison was like night and day.

"Um... Raven... What's going on?" Vent asked the mage as Kitten, Cheshire, and Blackfire began bickering alongside Artemis and Terra, their words growing more heated and every male with working self-preservation instincts wisely taking a few steps back.

"Come with me," the mage said hovering off without missing a beat, the brunette following suit and letting himself be dragged through a wall portal before coming out into the hall. Floating hand-in-hand, the two eventually found themselves at Vent's door. "Things are getting kind of... _heated_ in the living room. It's probably for the best that you hide out here until breakfast tomorrow. Things should be cooled down by then."

"Thanks, Rae. Don't know what I'd do without you," the brunette returned with a smile as he opened the door and walked in.

"Wait," Raven said as her hand grabbed his shoulder and turned him around. _***Chu***_ was what the brunette met when he made to speak up, his eyes widening when Raven floated a few inches above the ground and pressed her lips to his, gripping his shoulders for a few seconds before she stepped down. "You, uh... were standing under some mistletoe."

"Oh... Oh! I see..." the brunette replied, needing a minute to jump-start his brain. "Well, wouldn't want to ignore tradition, right?"

"Right. So... I'll see you at breakfast tomorrow?" the bluenette asked.

"Yep!" the brunette replied, having recovered his usual jovialism and walked into his room, Raven standing outside his door once it _***whoosh***_ed closed before sighing.

"Boy, that was close," the mage sighed as she ran her fingers through her hair and headed back to the living room.

"_I know, right? I was afraid he was going to look up and find no mistletoe there,"_ one of Raven's inner voices noted.

'_It may've taken forever to find the right "blend" of emoticlones, but... it's kinda nice not having to worry about my powers,' _the mage thought to herself, a satisfied smile on her face.

* * *

The next morning at breakfast, several tables had to be brought into the living room to accommodate everyone, so essentially the place was packed. Cyborg made stacks upon stacks of waffles, Robin prepped several packages of bacon, Terra and Kitten worked on several dozen eggs in varying styles, Starfire juiced oranges for OJ, Beast Boy made vegan food, Raven made a few varieties of tea, Ventus fried sausages, Blackfire made hash browns, while those who could fly made trips to town to stock up on enough food for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The fridge was fit to burst, and soon the smell of almost as many types of breakfast food as there were people in the tower filled the room.

Once everything had been set out, everyone dug in with gusto, one hand being used to stuff their faces while the other passed the food that needed passing. Obviously the kids from Hive sat at one end of the table, but there was a stable blend where the thieves met the heroes, and varying cliques and sub-cliques were formed. Chatter of all types filled the air, most of which would be about the upcoming Christmas party, some being about who brought gifts for whom, and a few mentions of holiday garnish that had been hung above the doorways. It was halfway through his meal that Ventus noticed a bit of tension between Raven, Kitten, and Terra, the prior of which sat across from the two latter.

"Hey KF. What's with them?" the brunette asked after he took a bit of hash browns and sausage.

"Well..." Kid flash began as he set down his Dagwood sandwich made out of waffles, bacon, sausage, hash browns, and eggs with a smear of butter on the top.

**Mini-Flashback**

"What do you think, Vent? Vent? Where'd he go?" Kitten asked stepping out of her argument with Terra and Blackfire, Artemis having stepped out a few minutes prior when she figured it'd be fun to watch. Noticing the brunette was absent and that the resident mage was just returning, she picked her book up and read a few sentences before saying-

"Score one for the Black Mage," Raven stated calmly as she turned a page in her book. " . . . Booyah," she finished as she flipped another page, the others scowling in her general direction.

**Mini-Flashback End**

" . . . I feel like I'm missing some context here," the brunette said once the cutaway had been finished. "Can someone pass the syrup?" he then called out, seeing his pancakes were a tad dry.

"Got it," both Kitten and Terra said simultaneously as their hands reached for the syrup, sparks of pink and gold electricity dancing between their eyes before a black bubble enveloped the syrup bottle and floated down the table.

"Just what I needed. Thanks," the brunette said as he put some more syrup on his pancakes, blissfully unaware of the rising tension between Raven, Terra, and Kitten.

"_Score two for the Black Mage. Booyah,"_ the mage murmured to herself as she sipped from her tea, looking over her holiday mug to glare black lightning at the two.

* * *

Lunch was as robust an affair as breakfast, though those that made breakfast were given a break as those who didn't made lunch. I won't even go into detail what they made because all the food was so diverse it'd take to long to describe _–though not-so-secretly, I'm just feeling too lazy for that small part-_. Several of the guys soon bowed to Cyborg as though he were some kind of mechanical god, because he was able to turn the entire panoramic view into a massive wall of holographic TV screens, with enough universal remotes to go around.

"Taking in the sights, Ventus?" a British voice spoke up, Vent looking away from the Christmas tree that was finally ready, to have his eyes land on the pale-skinned heroine, Argent.

"Yeah... Sorta," the brunette noted off-handedly as his eyes went back to the varying colored lights and ornaments. His eyes went to the slowly-growing pile of presents underneath, but eventually they landed upon the angel at the top of the tree.

"You need someone to talk to?" the energy-wielding heroine questioned. "My ears are open if you need them to be. That and I feel a bit bad for yesterday. I thought that was just a thing around here and that you didn't mind."

"I was a teeny bit out of my comfort zone, but I don't mind," the brunette replied as he went back to looking at the tree. " . . . Actually... I could probably use an open ear. Meet me on the roof in five?"

"Sure thing. Let me grab a finger sandwich and I'll meet you there," Argent replied, the brunette nodding as he went through one door and headed for the roof. Because of the holiday music that had been filling the air, the two's conversation was completely missed by anyone but them.

* * *

"You think Vent will like them?" Kitten asked as she and Terra put the finishing touches on their pet project for the holidays.

"I'm pretty sure he will. He may _act _really aloof, but I'm pretty sure he knows what situations he finds himself in. He just needs a bit of goading," Terra noted as she gave a tug of the thread. "That and when I slept with him, I felt him heating up."

"You _slept _with him?!"

"It was completely innocent with no grouping in any way," Terra said waving her hands defensively, Kitten sighing in relief for her own benefit before Terra added- "On _his _half at least." -, causing Kitten to fume.

"Just help me unfold the box and gift wrap it," the once-bratty blond huffed.

* * *

"So... What did you want to talk about?" Argent asked five minutes later as she and Ventus sat at the edge of the roof, a thick coat and scarf helping to ward off the cold.

"Let me get the ice out of our faces first," the brunette stated, his eyes flashing silver, as did his hands before he let out a snap, arcs of wind circling around them before the cold air was barred by a field of wind that kept the cold out, and hopefully the sound in. "Well... You probably already know about me being the Terminator's ex-apprentice, if word gets around as fast as I think it does."

"You mean that Schwarzeneger fellow on the telly?"

"_Deathstroke _the Terminator," the brunette reiterated. "Anyhow... Back before I became his apprentice, my family... we didn't really have a lot. To me, Christmas was just another day to be reminded how different my lot in life was from the other kids."

"So this will be your first Christmas then?" Argent asked, feeling considerably warmer now that the icy winds weren't whipping at her. Of course it probably helped that she had someone that could control both, to an extent, sitting right next to her.

"It's more than that. I feel... When I'm here with everyone, my friends, I feel happier than I've ever been before, even with my own family, but here and now... I'm afraid I'm beginning to forget them," he said hugging his knees to his chest. "Or maybe I'm just casting them aside."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean... The thought of going home for good may've occurred to me once or twice, but now, I don't really have a home to go _back_ to anymore," he said as he laid on his back and looked up at the sky through the shell of wind around them. "I guess... I guess I'm homesick, but the kind you can't get rid of, no matter how hard you try," he said before the wind shell suddenly died down, and the two were once again assaulted by wind and ice. "Oh for the love of-" he grumbled before a shell of crimson energy surrounded them.

"So you're missing your family, and both they and your home aren't back there waiting for you," the New Zealander stated, the shell of red energy being projected from her hand, but with considerably less effort.

"Well, it isn't as simple as that, and while I see the Titans here as my family _now_, I can't help but feel... but feel, like I'm forgetting my previous one. That maybe I'm starting to lose myself. What's underneath the whole hero persona I've made for myself here."

"Ventus, even if your real family or home are out of reach in this world, in a way, they'll always be with you, right here," she said tapping the left side of his chest. "My mum always tells me no matter how far apart you are from the things you care for, that you'll always be connected to them. Maybe you just needed someone to remind you of that."

"Yeah, I guess I did," the brunette nodded. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," Argent said as she got to her feet, letting the shell around them fall. "Now then, what say we get back inside before Kid Flash eats all the snacks?"

"I hear you there," the brunette replied with a chuckle, waving his hand to abate the wind and snow around them until they got back inside.

* * *

"Hey Rae, you really seem to be enjoying the holidays. What's up?" Cyborg asked as he, Beast Boy, and Raven watched a holiday special on the central monitor. "Technician's rights" he called it, since his was larger than some of the other walls.

"Not much," Raven replied, her hood down and a Santa hat on her head, a smile gracing her features as she watched a story about a magical hat that brought a snowman to life. There _were _such magics that could animate constructs of ice into sentient beings, but they were never anything as over-simplified as a top hat. "Maybe I'm just getting into the holiday spirit, is all."

"Jesus or Santa?" Beast Boy asked, wearing his own Santa hat, though with the pointy ears he looked more like an elf. Something Cy poked fun at him about, but it was all in good fun, so the changeling let it slide.

"Either or," Raven returned as their program ended, the mage taking the remote and channel surfing, an amazing sight on its own since Raven rarely watched TV proactively, let alone used the remote when she could just get up and press the buttons. Something she poked at the two sitting beside her about early on in their careers.

* * *

"Oh sister, you do not know how wonderful it is that we can put our differences behind us for the sake of the holidays!" Starfire cheered jovially as she mixed a large bowl filled with milk, sugar, raw eggs, spices, and a few other flavorings.

"Ohhh... I'm pretty sure I do," Blackfire replied with a small smile, taking various cooked meats and shaping them into something resembling a Christmas tree. "But still, whoever thought the two of _them _would be sisters, and on opposite sides of the law like _we _are," she said motioning to Cheshire and Artemis, whose relation to one another came as quite the surprise to those involved.

"But that is all behind you, yes? Things will not go back to as they were once the holidays have ended, will they?" Starfire asked worriedly, her eyes large and watering.

"How about the two of us staying the way we are now, be _your _Christmas present this year," Blackfire offered, her younger sister squealing with excitement as she hugged her older sibling, jumping up and down with joy as their figures were pressed flush together. When catcalls came from behind them, the two looked in the general direction and fired their eye beams.

"My nuts! My nuts!" Kid Flash cried as he cradled... the vaporized bowl of nuts he brought in front of his face at the last second. "WHYYYYY?" he cried out dramatically as he fell to his knees, the sole pinkette in the room rubbing the bridge of her nose at the red-head's antics.

* * *

"I still can't believe the two of you were double-agents," Gizmo grumbled. "I mean, I can understand Insanity, or Crazy, or _whatever _his name is going rogue, but _you_? You were one of the best we had!"

"Emphasis on the _was_. If Blood hadn't messed with my friend's head, I wouldn't have been a _problem _for him," Bumblebee returned with crossed arms.

"Hey Bee! Look what I can do!" Crazy called out from the ceiling, bands of double-sided tape slapped onto his hands and feet as he scuttled around like a certain red-and-blue-clad web swinger. "Thwip! Thwip!"

"Seems fine to me," Seemore replied. Of course, there was a bag of frozen peas over his singular eye, so he couldn't see the incredulous look Bee was giving him. Bonus points for however can guess _why _he's been effectively blinded for the next few days.

"_I'm _worried about Jinx turning to the _light side_," Mammoth grumbled, pointing out the two chatting to the side. "Why can't she fall for anyone on her _own _team?"

"Given her options..." Bee trailed off. "I can understand why she's outsourcing," she said plainly, causing them to scowl.

* * *

"I will admit, this is one of the better Christmas parties I've been to," Supergirl noted as she munched on a slice of Tamaranean fruitcake. It may've been based off the Terran fruitcake which was typically hard and tasteless, but the alien variety was pretty good. A little bitter, but still good.

"Well, the League are typically too serious, or just too divided," Batgirl commented as she sipped on some of the eggnog. "You think we should really be letting so many under-aged and impressionable teens drink eggnog?" she asked looking around, seeing that a couple of the teens there were just a _teeeny _bit tipsy from the alcoholic egg-based beverage.

"It's just a little, and no one's wearing a lamp shade on their head yet."

"For the record, I'm not comfortable with this."

"Out of the Bat Family, I thought _you _would be the most laid back."

"I am, and that's the _sad_ thing."

* * *

After getting back from the roof, Ventus and Argent split up, but not after sharing a friendly handshake, the silver-skinned girl pecking him on the cheek since they passed under a sprig of mistletoe. Scratching his cheek idly, the brunette made his way through the crowd seeing where he could fit in with those that weren't a part of his own team. The others weren't here every day, so when Kid Flash invited him to talk with Blue Beetle and Mas y Menos, the brunette was glad when they talked about the most talked-about topic between young heroes.

The coolest thing they ever did with their powers.

"Hey Vent, I need your help with something," Speedy said coming up to Vent and grabbing his shoulder out of nowhere.

"Do you mind? I'm trying to exchange stories here," the brunette said from his conversation with Kid Flash, Mas y Menos, and Blue Beetle. True to form, the speedster had a reindeer mug in one hand, a Santa hat atop his head.

"Me now, him later," Speedy said as he began to drag Vent towards the main door, a spring of mistletoe catching his eye.

"Oh hell no!" Vent cried out, though it wasn't heard over the music and conversation abound. "I do _not _swing that way!"

"Wha- Bu- No! That isn't what I want!" Speedy argued realizing what the brunette was going on about. "Bumblebee went to the bathroom a few minutes ago, so I just want you to be out there to let me know when she comes back."

"Is this about the sprig of mistletoe someone stuck up there?" Vent asked skeptically, earning a nod in return. "I've seen this on a bunch of the Christmas specials I watched with Beast Boy, and I'll tell you this _right _now. This won't work out like you hope it will."

"It _will _work because I actually have a _lookout _this time. Now _go_," he said shoving the brunette through the door, which automatically opened in his wake. Nodding in anticipation at how his plan would work out, Speedy took a seat at the table down the steps from the door, so that way one of Bumblebee's friends wouldn't tell her he was waiting _right by _the door.

"Hey Speedy. Speedy. Pick up, arrowhead!" a voice shouted over the T-comm.

"_Is Bumblebee heading my way?"_ Speedy asked. Even if the music and festivities were hiding his voice, he didn't want to risk one of the girls walking by and calling him a pig because of his planned use of mistletoe.

"Yeah, yeah, she's coming. Keep your skinnypants on," the brunette grumbled on the other end of the line. If he were actually present to see Speedy spritz a bit of breath spray into his mouth in preparation, he would've rolled his eyes. His keen ears catching footsteps coming towards the doorway, the red-head started walking up the steps right as the door opened, coming face-to-face with a set of yellow black-stripped spandex. Unfortunately, it wasn't Bumblebee, but Pantha. After being man-handled into a kiss from lips that were _way _too muscular to be normal, the archer whipped out his T-comm. before crying out-

"_Dude! I thought you said Bee was coming _my _way!"_ Speedy ranted over the line through bruised lips.

"I 'did', it's just Pantha got to the door 'first'."

"_Vent, you are the _worst _wingman, ever, of all time."_

"Hey fuck 'you' man, this was 'your' crappy idea. Honestly, I expected this from 'Kid Flash' sooner than I did you," the brunette growled in return. "I 'told' you this old gimmick would never work, but you didn't listen. You want a wingman, get Mas and/or Menos to do it for you. I'm coming back to the party. Try not to stand under the mistletoe."

"_But dude, I don't speak Spanish!"_ Speedy cried over the line as it was cut, a sigh escaping his lips as he looked to the main door as it opened. Bumping right into Blackfire when he came into the room as she passed by, Vent and her exchanged a few nervous words with the alien teen before she gave him a saucy look, hauling him up by the collar of his holiday sweater _-a black ensemble with a white moon and a silhouette of Santa and his reindeer-_ and playing a prolonged round of tonsil tennis. After letting him go, the girl gave Vent a flirty wink as he stumbled off, short of breath and red in the face.

And of course, Speedy could only balk at what had just happened. Vent hadn't planned that out at all, yet he got to swap spit with one of the arguably hottest women in the room. Starfire may've been a re-colored version of her, but her naivety and innocense reduced the hotness factor a smidge.

* * *

"Dude, you look a little red-faced. You been hitting the eggnog too hard?" Kid Flash asked as Vent came back to the conversation he was having with the three resident speedsters.

"No... No... Nothing like that," Vent returned as he pulled on his collar. He wanted to think the most of Blackfire, he really did, she was one of his best friend's sister after all, but with the way she... _conducted herself _with him, he couldn't help but think maybe she had a bit of practice. Also, for some reason she tasted like grape juice. Did _all _alien girls taste like fruit or was it just the ones _he _ran into? "Anyway, we were talking about the coolest things we ever did with our powers?"

"Yeah. I just finished talking about the time I vibrated my molecules and had the bank robbers waste their ammo before I kicked their cans. What about you, little dudes?"

"Hubo el tiempo que tuvimos que luchar contra la Apisonadora en la Ciudad de Acero cuando atacó a una fábrica de acero. Nos corrieron alrededor de una olla de metal caliente y había arrastrado encima de él con nuestra estela," the dual speedsters explained.

"Yeah... Awesome!" Kid Flash grinned, though he had no idea what they were actually saying. "Hey, what're the three of them doing out by the power outlet?" he then asked pointing to the "storm siblings" who at the moment were huddled around the industrial strength wall outlet that had to be set up in order to accommodate the large number of holiday lighting.

"Lightning, what do you think you're doing?" Zephyr asked with crossed arms as her idiot cousin brought his electrically-charged finger towards one of the Christmas light plugs.

"I'm going to make these blinking lights even _brighter_!" the spiky-haired spirit said jovially as the electricity around his extended digit danced excitedly.

"Brother, perhaps we shouldn't fix what isn't broken," Thunder said worriedly.

"Too late!" Lightning cackled as he charged up the Christmas lights, which lit up even brighter... for all of five seconds before every light bulb including the ones in the ceiling went out.

"What the-"

"God damn it!"

"Son of a bitch!"

"You jackass!"

"Baka!" Vent cried out in addition to everyone else's jabs, Zephyr shrieking- "BAKAAAAA!" – as she curled her legs under his armpits around his neck, putting him in a chokehold as she began to painfully pull his arms from their sockets, the electrically-charged _–not to mention luminescent- _spirit squealing like a stuck pig. Though he cried for his brother to save him, Thunder put more priority on his own survival than his brother's.

* * *

"Alright y'all, that should just about do it," Cyborg said twenty minutes later as he screwed the last light bulb into the ceiling. "BB, throw the switch!" he called out into his forearm-mounted communicator, the changeling struggling for a few moments in the basement before turning into a gorilla and throwing the switch. A moment later the changeling was thrown back by an electrical discharge, right as all the lights went back on across the Tower.

"Perhaps before my idiot cousin shorts out all the blubs and fuses again, maybe we should open what's underneath that overly-decorated tree," Zephyr noted from her seat atop her cousin, which at the moment was wrapped head to toe in insulative blankets.

"Shouldn't there be a hole so he can breathe?" Blue Beetle questioned.

"Why? It isn't like he breathes air," the wind spirit said dismissively with a shrug of her shoulders.

"For those of you who've stashed your presents back in your rooms, go and get them. We start opening in ten minutes!" Robin called outn.

"And then it's back to the party dudes! BZZZZZZZZZZZT!" Beast Boy stammered out through the T-Comm. before another jolt of electricity went through his system.

"I'll go drag BB back up from the basement. Don't be afraid to start without me," Vent said with a wave of his shoulder as he headed for the elevator. With that being said, the guests had formed their own cliques and began exchanging gifts among their group, while those that normally went solo opened the gifts they had gotten themselves.

"So... Starfire..." Robin said nervously as he held a rectangular wrapped present at his side. "Since you like cooking Earth food, I figured this was the best gift to get you," he said holding out the gift to Starfire, the girl shredding the paper wrapping. Though he had drawn Starfire's name in the Secret Santa drawing, something in his gut told him Star may appreciate this coming more from _him _rather than an imaginary figure. Or rather, imaginary as far as _he _knew.

"_*GASP* _Oh Robin, this is a most wonderful gift!" the alien girl cheered, holding up a large red cookbook with the title **Great Foods the World Over**, a picture of the world in PDF format inlaid in gold print. Wrapping her arms around him with a bone-cracking hug _–she'd been practicing _not _hurting people with her hugs-, _she raised a sprig of mistletoe and kissed him, the spiky-haired teen's masked eyes widening. A few seconds later when the kiss was released and he was let go, his face turned bright red before he fell back on the couch.

"Friend Raven, I wish to offer you this present for the earthly holiday of Christ-mas," Starfire said floating over to the mage, extending a misshapen package wrapped in a purple skin-like material with green stretchy bands like rubber. After a few minutes of trying to open it by hand, the mage stretched the bands away from the package telepathically before pulling out-

"Battle armor?" the mage asked, looking down at what appeared to be a replica of the attire Starfire had been wearing when she came to Earth, though reshaped for her frame. In place of purple there was blue with black accents, and there was even a hood to accompany it.

"Yes. I had heard that there is no greater gift than those you make with your own hands," Starfire said with a radiant smile.

"Wow... Thank you, Starfire," Raven replied with a smile and hugged the red-head, who did the same in return. "Well, Robin's still out of it, so I'll just leave this here," she said floating a wrapped basket out from underneath the tree and laid it out in Robin's lap. _"I figured some stress-relieving candles would do him a lot of good," _the mage whispered into Starfire's ear.

"Hey guys, we're back," Vent said coming into the room as a slightly-smoking Beast Boy cane in behind him, a few strands of hair sticking out of place before the changeling slicked it back. "Beast Boy, why don't you see about getting your present while I go get the one I made."

"Right!" the changeling whooped as he rushed through the room and began digging the remaining presents out from under the tree, Ventus expertfully catching them without allowing any to hit the ground, having to stand on one foot while he held the others in his arms and over his foot. When Beast Boy rushed past him, the brunette was spun around, and the presents went flying, but the brunette quickly break-danced a cyclone around him, setting the present safely down around him while getting a round of applause from those watching.

"Beast Boy, you always complain about getting tired having to run around as a cheetah or something, so I made you-" Cyborg said holding up a wrapped box, only for the changeling to leap at it in the form of a wolverine and tear apart the wrapping to reveal-

"Rocket-powered inline skates?! Dude, I love you man!" the changeling cheered as he wrapped his arms around the cyborg and gave him the best hug he could. Of course with those spaghetti string arms of his that wasn't really much.

"Hey Cyborg," Vent said getting the cyborg's attention. "I figured you might be kinda hard to shop for, so I made you something from scratch," he said holding out a square-shaped package to Cyborg.

"Well isn't that cool of you," Cyborg said with a smile as he removed the wrapping paper. "Wow, you hand-knit this yourself?" he asked holding up a hand-knit muffler just his size, colored black and white with electric blue accents like something out of Tron.

"Yeah. Hope you like it," he replied, the cyborg putting it around his neck and mussing up the brunette's hair.

"Hey, don't forget about _me,_" the changeling said holding out a flat rectangular package out to the brunette.

"I didn't," the brunette replied as he opened the wrapping. "Way of the Samurai 3? Niiice!" he whooped with a raised hand, the changeling returning the gesture in an epic high five.

"Hey Vent!" Kid Flash called from across the room. "Looks like Santa brought you something _big_. I'm guessing you've been a good boy this year," Kid Flash noted as he jabbed a thumb at a rather large box off to the right side of the tree, that wasn't there until a few minutes ago. In fact it hadn't shown up until after the fuses and circuit breakers had been repaired.

"I... guess..." Vent returned, perplexed at why _him _of all people would be getting something so large when there were others more deserving than him. The box, covered in red paper with white ribbons, looked big enough to hold two people. _'But that's just ridiculous,'_ the brunette thought to himself as he slowly pulled on the white ribbon, the bow on top slowly coming undone before-

"MERRY CHRISTMAS!" Kitten and Terra both shouted as they burst out of the top of the box, both dressed in Santa Girl outfits, though each was a bit different. Kitten's affair was shoulderless revealing a bit of cleavage while the skirt hugged her curves. Terra's figure wasn't quite as... _developed _as Kitten's, but the white trim around her collar and beneath her chest showed her stomach, a short skirt with bits of mistletoe hugging her curves.

" . . . " _***whump* **_

" . . . I think maybe we went a little too far," Terra admitted bashfully as she looked at the brunette currently lying on the floor, a dribble of blood coming out his nose and his limbs twitching.

"So... Are the two of you giving _yourselves _to him or what...?" Kid Flash questioned before Jinx jabbed him in the side.

"Bu- Wha- No! Nonononono!" Terra said with a red face as she waved her hands out in front of her. "We just wanted to make this year memorable."

"Nothing more memorable than a couple pretty girls _throwing_ themselves at you," Cyborg chuckled.

"Dude, you have _got _to tell me your secret," Kid Flash whispered into the brunette's ear, Ventus sitting up suddenly and unintentionally headbutting the red-haired teen across the room.

"I'm awake! I'm awake! What'd I miss?" the brunette blurted out as he looked around before his eyes landed on Kitten and Terra, his face turning as red as the wrapping on the Christmas the two burst out of. "Hey girls... Not that I don't like what I see," he admitted causing a light dusting of pink to appear on the two's faces. "But I hope there's more context to this than meets the eye."

"We just wanted to make it memorable when we gave you your presents," Kitten said pulling up a flat box. "Here, open mine first!" she said thrusting the package out into the brunette's arms, Terra wanting to interject, but didn't once the brunette began tearing into the wrapping. Didn't want to seem to petty, would she?

"Awesome! An Assassins Creed III hoodie!" the brunette whooped as he pulled out a white hoodie with two tails and numerous blue accents. "I'll be sure to wear this the next time I go crime fighting."

"Ven," Terra said stepping out of the box, holding something behind her back. "I know we haven't seen each other in a while, but I hope you like it," she said holding out a small wrapped gift, four inches by four inches by another four inches. Taking obvious care not to damage what was inside, the brunette opened the box that lay underneath.

"I recognize this place," he said shaking what was obviously a snow globe, though no ordinary one. Held within the dome of polished glass was a western town sitting atop an arid setting _–apart from the flakes of fake snow inside-_, the miniaturized town held within taking cues from both American and Japanese influences. Carved and inked into the brass plate on the wooden base was the word **Caldera**. "This is where we first met, isn't it?"

"You remember?"

"I do. Meeting you is one of my fondest memories," the brunette said with a smile as he shook his gift, the flakes of fake snow drifting down onto the miniature of the city where they first met. "Terr, you have no idea how much this means to me. Thank you," he said with a soft smile.

"You're welcome, Ven," Terra replied with a radiant smile, her cheeks turning pinker with each passing moment.

"Friends Ventus and Terra, I do believe that the use of the festive holiday garnish known as mistletoe would be most appropriate in this situation," Starfire said hovering above them, holding a sprig of said garnish above the two's heads, prompting a few catcalls to go out from across the room.

"So..." Vent said nervously as he scratched the back of his head. "What do we do about... _that_?" he asked pointing at the mistletoe above their heads, a few of the more immature guys shouting- "Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" –like they were at a baseball game or something.

"Well... Wouldn't want to ignore tradition, right?" the blond asked nervously as she strode towards him, her hands clasped behind her back.

'_I feel like I've heard those words before,' _the brunette thought to himself as he stepped forward. When Terra leapt at him and wrapped her arms around his neck, that thought was put aside as he returned the sentiment. It _was _the holidays after all.

"Hey Vent," Kitten said tapping the brunette on the shoulder, Terra separating from him and glaring daggers at her fellow blond, though the brunette's attention was all on Kitten now. "Happy holidays," she said with a smile. She may not've gotten what she _really _wanted, but she was happy nonetheless.

"What's with that tone? You sound like the party's ending," Vent said reaching into his pocket before taking out a pair of round packages in holiday paper. "You and Terra still haven't opened _your _packages yet," he said holding one out to each blond.

"This... This is for _me_?" Kitten asked in astonishment, a genuine T-Comm. in her hands.

"Yep. That way we can always stay in touch," he said with a smile. "Terr, don't be a stranger. You've always got a place here."

"Yeah, I know," she said with a smile and rosy cheeks, holding her own T-Comm. to her chest. Compared to earlier, this was just a nice bonus.

"Hey Vent," Kitten said pulling on the brunette's sleeve, leading him out of the room and into the hallway. "I appreciate the gift, I _really _do," she said fidgeting with it until she clipped it on her waistline, since her current outfit didn't have any pockets. "But there's something else I want. It isn't anything big, but you're the only one who can get it for me."

"Name it, it's yours," the brunette replied with a smile.

"Well..." Kitten said mulling it over nervously. "Can we, um... Can we... finish what we were doing... before Fang crashed junior prom?" she asked nervously.

"Oh? OH! That," the brunette replied with a reddening face. "Well..." he said nervously as he scratched at the back of his head. "If that's what you really want, just tell me when to stop... alright?" What do you expect? He'd just been asked to finish something he'd been in the midst of doing while in a completely different mindset.

_"Uh-huh..." _Kitten returned softly as the brunette placed an arm around her back and the other behind her head, tipping over over as she fisted his hair and grabbed his waistline, pulling their bodies flush together. _'If it's you...' _she thought as Vent leaned towards her with closed eyes, his lips brushing against hers. _'I'd_ never _say to stop,__' _she said closing her own eyes and pressed her own lips against his. Inhaling sharply when the brunette's hand slid down her back and grabbed her thigh, the brunette separated from her thinking he'd gone too far. "I didn't say to stop," she said pulling their lips together once again, the two pressing their bodies together in the kiss. Feeling something wet dancing across her teeth, the blond moaned into the embrace as she allowed the brunette's tongue to slide into her mouth, her own dancing across his. "Mmmmmm... Hmmmmmm..." Kitten moaned before the two's lips parted, their eyes half-lidded and their hearts beating against the other's chests before the two dove back in. After a few minutes the brunette separated from Kitten's, her breath heated and her face red, a line of saliva connecting their lips.

"So..." Vent said nervously as he scratched the back of his head, still holding Kitten's body flush against his. "Unless you want someone to walk in on us, I think maybe we should get back to the party."

_'I_ want _someone to walk through those doors!__' _Kitten's inner, brattier voice demanded.

"Yeah, I guess we should," the blond said ignoring the voice, giving the brunette a quick peck on the lips and getting a little taste of him before heading back to the living room, a sway to her step before she winked coyly at the brunette, who at the moment was adjusting the waistline of his pants. "Merry Christmas," she said with a radiant smile that made it hard to believe she were ever a pampered brat.

"Y-Yeah," Vent said as he finally made himself comfortable, breathing through his nose to calm his heart. "Merry Christmas," he returned, the blond blowing a kiss to him before the doors opened before him. "Well... At least I didn't leave that unfinished," he rationalized.

"_Jiiiiiiiii."_

"Who's there?!" the brunette whirled around once the door had closed behind Kitten. "Hmmm..." he hummed to himself when he heard no one else in the hall. "Maybe it was just my imagination," the teen muttered to himself as he walked off, missing the glint at the end of the darkened hallway.

* * *

"Well Robin, I have to admit, this is one of the best ideas you've had in a while," Vent said to Robin a few minutes later at the front of the room after all the presents had been opened, everyone chatting happily with one another and nary a face without a smile in sight. "Frankly, I thought I'd have to bust my _ass _convincing you to have a party in the Tower since that's what stereotypical teenagers do without any adult supervision on hand, but I'm glad you came out with this."

"You chased me around the past week with a gasoline _flamethrower_ whenever we disagreed with one another," the spiky-haired teen grunted with crossed arms.

"You gotta admit though, this has been good for everyone," Beast Boy spoke up. "I mean, Starfire and her sister are getting along like best friends, the guys from Hive haven't caused any trouble in days. Things are looking good."

"I suppose you're right," Robin returned as he cracked his neck.

"I hope one of your New Year's resolutions is to relax a little more," Vent commented. "Seriously, all that angsty loner-hero shit _can't _be good for your heart. I can only imagine how bad it'll be for _Batman_. I should know, I met the guy."

"If you'll stop nagging me about it, I'll try to relax more in the coming year," Robin returned.

"Hey Vent, remember that project we started on a couple months ago?" Cyborg asked coming out of his chat with Titans West.

"What proj-oh! _That _project! Yeah, I remember. What? Do you think we should bring it out now?"

"Why not? The T-Box is certainly a big hit," he said jabbing a thumb over his shoulder to some of the teens that had the box chucking soft drinks or bottled water towards them.

"Wait, you can bench press a _bus_. What do you need _me _for?" the brunette asked incredulously.

"You helped build it, you help haul it," Cyborg said dragging the brunette along, mindful of the mistletoe hanging above the door as they left the room. At a brisk run, it was under a five minute run to the end of the big **T **from the Ops Center, and around ten for a round trip. After fifteen minutes passed and the two didn't come back the call was sent out.

"Hey Vent, Cyborg, you get lost or something? Maybe take a bathroom break?" Beast Boy asked into his T-Comm.

"Yeah? You fall in the toilet or wha-" Gizmo was about to chime in before Billy Numerous and a half-dozen copies tackled him to the ground. You don't insult _one _superhero when you're surrounded by a few _dozen _heroes.

"Hey, this thing's heavy, and Cyborg isn't carrying his own weight," Vent returned.

"If I was, it'd be in the living room already. _You _just need to push_ harder."_

"Whoa, what was that!" Vent suddenly cried out when the sound of something whooshing by came out of the speakers.

"Guys! What's going on back there?" Robin ordered.

"I dunno, man. Something just whooshed by us and OH MY GOD-_***KSHHHHHHHH***_"

"Backup! I repeat! Send back-_*click-brrrrrrrrrrrr*_" The sound of the line being cut off filled the air, people beginning to gather around the console as Robin tried fervently to re-establish contact.

"Vent, Cyborg! Guys, come on man, this isn't funny!" Robin shouted into the line. " . . . What did you do? WHAT DID YOU DO!?" Robin shouted as he fisted the front of Gizmo's jumpsuit, shaking him back and forth.

"What're you talking about birdbrain? We've all been here all evening!" Gizmo shouted between shaking.

"There's only one person I know of that could get so far under our noses and no one know about it. The fact that he went right for Ventus narrows that down even _further_," Robin said with a furrowed brow.

"Hold on, you don't think... and on Christmas..." Beast Boy said as he wrung his Santa hat nervously.

"We can't take any chances," Robin said as he pressed a few keys before a panel on the console folded out, revealing a bright red button, which he then punched straight down.

"NOW ENGAGING: TOWER LOCKDOWN," an artificial voice spoke through the intercoms before reinforced steel shutters lowered down over all the windows.

"Hey what's the big idea?!" Gizmo shouted as he beat on the steel shutters that came down on the inside of the windows. "Now we're all _stuck _here!" the tiny teen shouted before Robin shoved him to the side.

"Alright, listen up! We have a potential intruder and a man down. We split up into thirteen teams of three, check every room-"

"_Or_," Batgirl cut into the middle of Robin's tirade. "We can have Supergirl comb the place with her X-Ray vision," she suggested.

"Either that or check the most conspicuous thing hopping around in the kitchen," Supergirl voiced up as the pointed over her shoulder, a human-shaped object wrapped in paper and ribbons hopping around the kitchen.

"Robin... I think you can lift the lockdown," Raven said from the side as the human-shaped object bumped into the fridge before promptly landing on the floor with a _***thud* **_causing everyone to winch.

"Okay seriously, what is going on here?" Jinx questioned, Cheshire reappearing behind the pinkette, the smirk on her mask slightly larger. How that was possible, no one would ever know.

"Well, that's definitely Vent in there," Supergirl noted as she hauled the human-shaped package to its feet. "Plus I think he's been working out."

"Let him out of there!" Batgirl blurted out, the blond taking a fistful of the wrapping paper and tearing it away. Slapped across the mouth of the brunette underneath was a sticker which said **From: Santa** and **To: The Girls on the Nice List**. The moment it was torn away like a piece of duct tape, the brunette inhaled deeply, filling his lungs and stretching some of the paper around his chest.

"Pwah! Thank god, I thought I was going to suffocate!" the brunette panted out in deep breaths.

"Vent... Why are you covered in wrapping paper and tied up in ribbons?" Robin questioned as the last of the shutters came back up.

"How the hell should I know?! One moment I'm moving the jukebox-"

"You got us a jukebox? Awesome!" Beast Boy whooped, the brunette attempting to palm himself in the face.

'_Damn, this stuff is strong,'_ he grumbled. "Next thing I know, I get attacked from behind, covered head to toe in what I now know is _wrapping _paper," he said looking down at the bindings of red Christmas tree-marked bindings covering most of his body. "Dragged halfway across the Tower before I'm set down on the floor. I get up, bump into the fridge, and next thing I know I'm freed by you guys," he explained. "Oh I'm sorry, do you find something _funny_ about this?" the brunette then asked the green changeling, who at the moment was a fit of restrained giggles.

"Dude, hahahahaha, nice hat, man," Beast Boy chuckled as he pointed at something atop the brunette's head.

"Okay seriously, what _is _this thing?" the brunette asked as he shook his head. Whoever had attacked him had slapped what looked like a green _elf's _hat over his head, only instead of a bell, there was a sprig of-

"Is that _mistletoe _on your head?" Kid Flash chuckled, struggling to hold in his laughter.

"Can _someone _please tell me who attacked me five minutes ago?" the brunette asked trying to shake the hat off his head, only to suddenly feel a chill run up his spine. Slowly turning his head and looking over his shoulder, he soon found the eyes of Raven, Terra, Kitten, Blackfire, and Cheshire on him, a bit of red tinting their cheeks. "Uhhh... Is there something on my face?" he asked.

Stupid question.

The next moment Cheshire tipped her mask back, but before anyone could get a good look the kunoichi had already lunged at the brunette's face, her arms wrapping around his neck and he was dragged to the ground. With cries of- "He's mine!" -and- "Get offa him!" -and even- "My turn!" -, like a wave of eggnog-fueled teenage women that had been staring at him so intently a few moments before washed over him. For several seconds there were sounds of squealing, biting, ripping paper and flying clothing across the Ops Center. The brunette in the middle of the maelstrom of eggnog-driven estrogen managed to inchworm his way out of the flailing bodies.

"HELP MEEEEE!" the brunette cried as he extended his hand to Supergirl, only to be dragged back behind the counter before she could close her fingers around his extended digits.

"Huh... Figured something like this could only happen on _Valentines_ Day," Kid Flash noted as he and everyone else stared dumbfounded at what was occurring right in front of them. Without missing a beat the speedster took out his phone and began recording the events transpiring in front of him for posterity. Make one hell of a clip for the _reunion _party.

* * *

"Alright. I think we're _all _in agreement when I say that eggnog is _banned_ from our Christmas parties until we're all of legal drinking age," Robin announced from the front of the room a half-hour later after things had been finally been brought back under control. Strangely enough despite their numbers, they needed Supergirl's incredible strength to pry the five _-supposedly- _intoxicated teenage women off the brunette writhing underneath them.

"I told you this would end badly when we let them have eggnog," Batgirl told her blond-haired friend. "Just look what the five of them did to Ventus!" she said pointing to the couch.

Said brunette was laying on the couch with a re-breather strapped to his face, his eyes swirling after _literally _being kissed into a coma by what could only be described as a hoard of lip-locking Terminators. The ones portrayed by Schwarzeneger, not the other kind.

While the holiday wrappings that had been binding him had been removed from his person, so had the majority of his _clothing_, his body covered in lipstick, bruises, and scratch marks. Not necessarily in that order. It was debatable whether he'd be able to _recall_ anything that happened after he'd been tackled to the kitchen floor, but by the looks the other guys were sending him, it was obvious some were actually _considering _wanting to be in his position.

"At least I was able to stop the five of them before things got too out of hand," Supergirl replied as she motioned to the coffee table at the back of the room. Said girls that had more or less gang banged the brunette were a grouped together with varying expressions on their faces.

Raven was quietly meditating by herself, all of her willpower dedicated to making sure the more _rowdy _aspects of her personality were kept in order; especially ero-kara, who chose that _particular _moment to usurp control of her body. Terra was nervously twitting her thumbs, though on the inside she was bouncing up and down for joy at how much she was able to do to the brunette before she and the others were torn from his non-flailing body; Did that make her a bad person? Kitten was busying herself by not making eye contact with _anyone_, a blush the same color as her junior prom dress covering her face and ears. Blackfire didn't seem to be embarrassed in the slightest, but was reveling in the flustered looks that the other girls were wearing, a smile on her face as she laced her fingers behind her head and kicked her feet up on the table. Cheshire was only visible as a floating pair of eyes and a smile, the kunoichi having turned invisible as to cover the head-to-toe blush she had fallen into after realizing how her lapse of control had been seen by over three dozen people, _and _her teammates. Her sister at the moment was poking fun at her, and the kunoichi was powerless to stop it.

Overall, the collective of young women wanted Vent to both remember and _forget _what had transpired for different reasons. One of the reasons they wanted him to _remember _was so in the likelihood that he liked what he'd felt that he'd come back to them for more. One of the reasons they wanted him to _forget _was because they didn't want him to be afraid to get intimate with them at the risk of a repeat of _this _happening.

"So..." Kid Flash noted as he rocked back and forth on the balls of his heels. "Who's up for celebrating New Years?" he whooped out.

* * *

**And thus is the end of my holiday special. Remember, that this is non-fanfiction-canon, and while it takes place in the same universe as **Teen Titans: One of Four Elements**, the events that took place in this story did not happen in the actual continuity. Also, what would be dubbed the "Mistletoe Mishap" if this were concurrent with the current Teen Titans storyline of the **One of Four Elements **story may or may not be indicative of the pairing and/or pairings that may or may not be taking place in the original story. Since this is a non-canon holiday special, I got to take every holiday mishap and carry them to their upper extremes.**

**Also in case anyone's curious as to what Mas y Menos were talking about, they were basically reminiscing about Steamroller's attack on Steel City at the steel mill where they dragged liquid metal over him with their slipstream.**

**As for why I didn't write out scenes of **_**everyone **_**exchanging gifts, **_**you **_**try coming up with ways 40 people can give gifts to one another. I had the "main characters" exchange gifts while leaving the others up to the imagination that I didn't outright illustrate.**

**SPOILER ALERT**

Teen Titans: One of Four Elements **will end within three chapters, stopping where Season 2 lets off with a cliffhanger. The story WILL be continued, though I intend to take a break from Teen Titans and instead focus on my other works. You may have been wondering how and under what circumstances Ventus and Terra first met, so I may cover that in a side-story (unlike this story, the ones covered in _that _off-shot will be "fanfiction canon"). If I put that in the main story in the form of flashbacks, it'd just drag down the main story unnecessarily, hence the off-shot.**

**P.S.  
Bonus points to whoever can guess who wrapped Ventus up like a Christmas present and then dropped him off in the kitchen before making themselves scarce.**


End file.
